Corporate Lifecycles: Modelling the Dynamics of Innovation and Its Support Infrastructure

Abstract

Corporate leadership and corporate culture have to be aligned to market realities to en- sure the long-term success of a firm. As companies form, grow, and mature, the manage- ment of the enterprises also have to evolve through the business lifecycle. What is successful in the introduction stage may not be successful for a mature company. Firms are required to change their focus from product development, to market development, to process development, and finally to market and financial leadership. To be successful means that not only the types of employees hired have to evolve to support the culture re- quired, but the leadership styles and management focus also have to change and adapt to the new realities that firms encounter in their market. The dynamic model presented in this article shows the broad strategic imperatives that must be met by firms, and it is presented through a graphical illustration of how successful firms manage their evolution and how firms can fail through mis-allocation of corporate efforts to non-mission critical initiatives. Introduction