Apply the concept of life cycle to an organization with which you are familiar, such as a local business. What stage is the organization in now? How did the organization handle or pass through its life cycle crises? Solution Different stages of life cycle are : Introduction Stage, Growth Stage, Maturity Stage, Decline Stage. For example let us consider IBM company, which is in Maturity stage at present. Actually IBM has reached decline stage in early 1970\'s and 1980\'s because the company’s costs remained level, profits dropped. But growth has returned in virtually all segments of the company. In 1995, IBM’s sales reached almost $72 billion, up more than 12 percent from 1994. For this, Gerstner and his team deserve great credit. Profitability was also up by 42 percent. And shareholders were richly rewarded: earnings per share rose by 44 percent. Even the mainframe market, the heart of IBM in the 1970s and 1980s that critics pronounced dead in the early 1990s, has recovered, with new mainframe computers bringing in substantial profit margins..