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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the organization’s life-cycle stages influence the venture capital investor’s decision. The present study also aims to explore the relationships between life cycle stages and financing decisions of investors of an organization.

The research focuses on a qualitative approach and adopts descriptive and case study methods to perceive the data collected. By the multi-case research approach, the authors conducted interviews in analytics and technological companies. The data originates from semi-structured interviews and publicly available data with various venture capital firms.

In this research, 10 stages of the organization’s life cycle from the Adizes theory have been considered. It starts from the first two stages as courtship and infancy to bureaucracy and death to the final stages. The results and findings indicate that life cycle stages influence venture capitalist financing decisions.

The implications of the current research help venture capitalist to take investment decisions according to the life cycle stage of the organization. Furthermore, according to the stage of the organization, the owner of a venture capital firm can approach various venture capitalists for the betterment of the organization.

The novelty of this research is to consider a case-based approach involving Adizes’ life cycle in all 10 stages of venture capital firms that affect venture capitalists.

The purpose of this paper is to examine work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, taking into account generational cohort and life cycle stage differences.

Survey participants (428 employed individuals with families) represented different generations and life cycles. Key variables were work/family characteristics and centrality, work-family and family-work conflict, and age.

Generational differences in both directions were found. Gen X-ers reported the most work-family conflict, followed by Millennials and then Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers exhibited family-work conflict the most, followed by Gen X-ers, and then Millennials, a surprising finding given generational stereotypes. Some of these differences remained after controlling for children in the household (based on life cycle stage theory) and age. Millennials were highest in work centrality, whereas Baby Boomers were highest in family centrality. Employees with children ages 13-18 reported the most work-family conflict, and employees with children under the age of six reported the most family-work conflict.

This study found that generation and children in the household make a difference in work-family conflict, but it did not support some of the common generational stereotypes. Future studies should use a time-lag technique to study generational differences. To reduce work-family conflict, it is important to consider its directionality, which varies across generations and life cycle stages.

This informs organizations on how to tailor interventions to help employees balance work/life demands.

This study is the first to simultaneously examine both generation and life cycle stage (children in the household) in regard to work-family conflict.

Futures research is commonly reported on the macro scale, and involves analysis of a global or national situation with a long‐range view of trends and alternative futures. This article approaches ageing and the future from the micro scale, examining the future one life at a time; suggesting that futures methodology can, and should, be effectively applied to individual lives. Three propositions relating to development of personal futures are introduced, focusing on life stages, personal trends and life events after age 60. These three elements of life are then shown as a framework on which individuals can build personal scenarios and create personal strategic plans for the stages of life after age 60.

This study aims to empirically examine the applicability of the life cycle model of firm performance to growth and profitability among Swedish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Using analysis of variance, multiple analysis of variance and three-stage least square modelling, this study analyses a longitudinal data set covering 26,721 Swedish SMEs in six industries from 2008 to 2011.

The empirical results indicate a clear life cycle performance pattern among the sampled SMEs, and that a six-stage life cycle model is applicable in predicting the performance pattern in terms of growth and profitability. On average, younger SMEs tend to display better performance in terms of growth and profitability than do their older and larger counterparts; moreover, larger SMEs tend to achieve better performance than do smaller ones.

The findings help SME managers understand how their decision-making style, strategy and structure can be related to various life cycle stages. Such an understanding may help them improve firm performance over time. Policymakers may find the results useful in coordinating SME support in line with various life cycle stages.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of only a few using two performance variables to test the applicability of the life cycle model in a longitudinal and cross-industrial sample.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how corporate cash holdings changes across firm life cycle and how firms undergo heterogeneous dynamic cash adjustment as they advance from one stage to the next stage.

This study uses an extensive data set of 2,994 Chinese A-listed firms. The authors use generalized method of moments (GMM) and Fisher Panel unit root testing to investigate the targeting behavior of Chinese firms.

The uni-variate investigation reveals that firms in the growth stage exhibits the highest cash levels and firms in the decline stage report the lowest cash levels. As growth firms have high investment needs, they may require raising external capital to meet investment needs. To avoid the costly external financing, firms in growth stage tend to hold more cash. The GMM estimation reveals that along all the phases of firm life cycle there are evidences of trade-off behavior of corporate cash holdings. The authors report that adjustment rate increases as firms enters into the growth stage.

The findings provide both theoretical and practical insight to align cash policies with the available strategic choices along firm life cycle in an emerging market characterized by market imperfections.

The study is unique from the context that it is applying robust methodology to one of rarely investigated area in corporate cash policy. The peculiar Chinese study setting characterized by higher information asymmetry, high cost of external financing and heterogeneous access to financing sources provide theoretical and empirical underpinnings to investigate and gain insight about how corporate cash policy can be aligned with strategic choices available across different stages of life cycle.

The paper aims first of all to identify the stage of the life cycle of rapidly growing Lithuanian enterprises and the main challenges that management faces at a particular stage.

The methodology of the study is based on the research works carried out by Hanks and Watson, Miller and Friesen and Kazanjian. On the basis of the selected factors an original questionnaire was developed and administered to eight Lithuanian companies.

Main findings of the empirical study show that rapidly growing Lithuanian companies correspond to the main life cycle features and face specific problems that were partially reported by numerous research works but also some unique ones. Findings confirm the reliability of the life cycle studies.

The research could be extended to the broader sample, especially into different sectors. Also it would be beneficial to carry out the study in different countries with developing economies to test unique findings of the research.

The findings can be used by managers to predict and prepare for meeting effectively the challenges associated with certain stages of enterprise growth.

The paper is a first attempt to apply organisational life cycle theory in order to systemise the challenges that Lithuanian enterprises face, and to contribute to the development of the debate on organisational life cycle theory reliability.

This paper aims to present the results of an exploratory study of the organizational life cycle. Rather than approaching the construct from a small‐ or large‐ firm perspective, a model appropriate for all organizations is employed.

A survey was administered to 107 practicing managers to determine life cycle stage of their organizations and environmental scanning pursuits.

The study revealed that small firms are not only found in the first two life cycle stages – existence and survival – but also in the decline stage. In addition, support was not found for environmental scanning patterns previously postulated in the literature.

Managers of SMEs who wish to grow their organizations must understand the Gestalt changes necessary for successful progression to a large organization.

One life cycle model is appropriate for all organizations and can be utilized as a transition guide for strategic managers who recognize that their decisions are the real determinants of life cycle stage.

In this paper, we investigate whether internal control and whether corporate life cycle would affect firm performance in the emerging markets of China.

We use Chen, Dong, Han, and Zhou’s (2013) internal control index on the effectiveness of internal control and Dickinson’s (2011) definition on firm life cycle. We use multivariate regression analysis.

We find that the internal control improves corporate performance. When dividing firm life cycle into five stages: introduction, growth, mature, shake-out and decline, we find that the impacts of internal control on firm performance vary with different stages. The positive impact of internal control on firm performance is more significant in maturity and shake-out stages than other stages.

Our findings would have implications for the regulators and policy makers with regards to the importance of internal control in corporate governance and the effectiveness of implementing standards and guidelines on internal control in public firms.

In addition, our findings on the various roles of internal control at different stages of firm life cycle would help managers and board of directors find more focus in risk management and board monitoring, respectively.

Although the prior literature have examined the link between internal control, information quality and cost of equity capital (Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, Kinney, & LaFond, 2009; Ogneva, Subramanyam, & Raghunandan, 2007), our study would be the first attempt to investigate the link between internal control and firm performance during different stages of firm life cycles.

The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study investigates how tax planning affects the likelihood of financial default in different stages of the corporate life cycle.

Collecting a large sample of US firms between 1989 and 2016, hypotheses are tested using a hazard model. Several robustness and endogeneity checks corroborate the main findings.

The results show that tax-planning firms are less likely to default in the introduction and decline stages, while they are more likely to default in the growth and maturity stages. The findings suggest that introductory and declining firms use cash resources obtained from tax planning efficiently to meet their needs and acquire other useful resources. In growing and mature firms, tax aggressiveness generates unnecessary slack resources, weakens managerial discipline and increases reputational risks.

The results shed light on the benefits and costs associated with tax planning throughout firms' life cycle, holding great significance for managers, investors, lenders and other stakeholders.

This study contributes to the literature that examines resource management at different life cycle stages by showing that cash resources from tax planning are managed in distinctive ways in each life cycle stage, having a varied impact on the likelihood of default. The authors shed light on underexplored cash resources. Furthermore, this study shows the potential linkages between the agency theory and RBV.