A Qualitative Review of Market-based Company Life Cycle Models

Understanding the stages of the life cycle of companies is fundamental to their management and performance, since the characteristics of companies vary according to the moment they are going through. With this focus, the purpose of this article is to identify and analyze the models of the different company cycles found in the literature presenting comparisons with a life cycle model proposed by an author present in the industrial market. The company life cycle models were identified through a systematic literature review that aimed to rescue the perception of several authors. The authors have a similar approach on the subject of the study, and their proposals come from the 1980s and 1990s, characterizing a time gap on the subject. The article contributes to the research on the company life cycle, as it presents models identified in the literature, as well as a perspective of the stages of companies emphasizing a life cycle model used by industries in the market. The article identifies similarities and differences between company life cycle models used in the market and used others in academic scientific circles. The results of the article provide the characteristics of the company life cycle stages to managers of industrial organizations, helping to understand the organization’s moment in the market, as well as to understand the next stages to be developed.