UNDERSTANDING LIFECYCLE TO FINETUNE STRATEGY....

Every idea, every product or a service, every activity and every organization is subject to the phenomenon of lifecycle .. Master Mentors.

Understanding the lifecycle concept and applying the same to the day-to-day decision making process will lead us to take most appropriate decisions at any stage.Life cycle generally involves 4 stages namely, birth, growth, maturity and death, of varying time frames
The following are the examples of Lifecycle:
i) Idea:  Birth, buzz creation in a medium till critical strength in the form of the propagators, propagating rapidly and reaching a peak in interest levels and followers, decline in interest levels and finally disappearance.
ii) Activity: Initiation, Preparation, Implementation and closure
iii) Tree: Seed, sprout, sapling,  mature tree and snag.
iv) Animal:  Birth, growth, adolescence, maturity, middle-age, old age and death
v) Product: Introduction, growth, maturity and decline.
vi) Organization: Idea, formation, growth, maturity, decline and liquidation ( can be challenged).
Resource and support requirements, issues faced for survival and growth, output levels are different in different stages, in all the above cases and hence it is imperative to know this when handling any situation.
Organizations, being non living organisms, exhibit complex life-cycle patterns compared to living organism. Each of their stages can vary in duration unlike in living organisms, where it is more or less a constant, depending on the type of species.
While some organizations are quickly off the ground and grow large in no time, like Google, Facebook etc., 
some organizations like Citibank live for over 200 years and keep growing over time. Organizations like Apple computers passed through decline stage and came back with renewed vigour and accelerated growth, while organizations like Chrysler were acquired by rivals after a challenging period.


Unlike living organisms, organizations can be engineered and managed to survive
 eternally for generations through appropriate management and professional approach.
Life cycle of organizations that continuously reinvent themselves through innovation, adapting to the external environment and stay relevant to their target audience can look as shown here.
Organizations life cycle issues could be described as follows:

STAGE OF LIFE CYCLE	KEY ACTIVITIES	REMARKS
FORMATION	Create Business Plan, Fixed investments, Strategy, Fine-tuning & Finalising business proposition, Seed capital	Promoter focus is of paramount importance to get the idea off the ground and make the idea deliver as planned
GROWTH	Revenue growth, get people, processes and systems in place, Manage working capital, delivery to meet demand growth, innovative approaches to make most of limited apporaches	Most of the businesses fail here as their resources are unable to keep pace with the growing needs and also lack of systems will lead to a building being raised on poor foundations leading to the crash. Also competition from established players will be a grave threat.
MATURITY	Steady state operation, growth plateaus, competition intensifies, focus on delivering the brand’s promise consistently and ward off competition through trade promotion and brand investments. Aging manpower with growing salaries tend to get complacent,	This is a consolidation phase. Profits generated during this phase should partly be reinvested to generate new avenues of growth by launching new products, services, brand extensions etc to prolong the organization’s lifecycle. Organizational issues due to power struggle,  ego clashes, leadership issues start troubling the organization.
DECLINE	Decline in volumes, profitability due to multiplicity of factors like changing consumer preferences, environmental issues, intense competition, new innovations changing market dynamics, alternate products,  changing ownership or interest of owners, changing relationships with principals and business partners	Complacency and failure to adapt to the changing dynamics of the market will lead to the onset of the decline stage. Blame game de-motivates the staff. Re-orientation and training is a must in such a situation to survive decline. Organizations should reassess and act proactively to either reinvent their organizations or by undertaking mergers, acquisitions, sale or closure. Progressive organizations pave way to new generation products by cannibalising older versions.
NEW GROWTH PHASE OR DEATH	Some organizations survive the decline phase and emerge victorious in the market shake out, reinventing themselves. Emergence of new growth trajectories from new launches starting fresh lifecycle and rejuvenation	Companies that adapt themselves and manage to survive the shakeouts through proactive approach undertaken during the maturity phase emerge stronger and start a new growth path.

Understanding the life cycle concept allows the leaders in an organization to adopt appropriate strategy, leadership style, employee orientation and adapt the organization by confronting any issues that arise to threaten the existence of organization appropriately, thus ensuring long term survival.