Industry Life Cycle
The industry life cycle (ILC) is another dimension of small business evolution, which needs to be
understood and assessed in concert with the stages of small business growth and the OLC. All
small businesses compete in an industry, and that industry will experience a life cycle just as
products and organizations do. Although there may be overlap in the names of the ILC stages,
the meaning and implications of each stage are different.
The industry life cycle refers to the continuum along which an industry is born, grows, matures,
and eventually experiences decline and then dies. Although the pattern is predictable, the
duration of each stage in the cycle is not. The stages are the same for all industries, but every
industry will experience the stages differently. The stages will last longer for some and pass
quickly for others; even within the same industry various small businesses may find themselves
at different life cycle stages. [18] However, no matter where a small business finds itself along the
ILC continuum, the strategic planning of that business will be influenced in important ways.
