Okay kiddo, imagine you have a plant. You know that plants grow, they have leaves, flowers and fruits. But did you know that they have a cycle?
Just like plants, businesses have a cycle too! And it's called the enterprise life cycle.
The enterprise life cycle is the journey that a business goes through from its start until its end. Just like a plant that starts from a tiny seed and grows into a big tree, businesses start from an idea that grows into a big company.
Let's divide the enterprise life cycle into 4 parts: start-up, growth, maturity, and decline.
1. Start-up - This is when a new business is born. Just like a baby, the business is fragile and needs a lot of care and attention. The entrepreneur needs to carefully plan everything from the product or service, to the resources needed, and how to get the word out so that people know about the business.
2. Growth - This is when the business starts to become more established and grows bigger. Like a teenager, the business learns from its mistakes and starts to become more mature. The business may need to hire new employees, expand its product or service, and maybe even find a new location.
3. Maturity - This is when the business is fully established and has a loyal customer base. The business is like an adult, it has stability and it's making a profit. The focus now is on maintaining and improving what the business already has.
4. Decline - This is the last phase of the cycle where the business starts to lose its customers, its profits start to decrease, and it becomes less relevant. Similar to an elderly person who is no longer as strong as they once were. Eventually, the business may need to shut down.
So, there you have it kiddo, just like how a plant has a cycle from a seed to a tree, a business has an enterprise life cycle from start-up to decline.