adminof where the business is going.
I unearthed similarities between a business cycle and a sleep cycle. Research suggests that there are two types of sleep in the sleep cycle.
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) – the period when you dream and Non-REM (NREM) sleep – divided into four stages, the first two is lighter sleep, the third and fourth are deeper sleep.
Typically, we have between three and five sleep cycles in a single night. We start at stage one of NREM, the lightest sleep stage.
We then move through the stages till the stage four, deep slumber. As our bodies recover we go less deeply into NREM sleep stages on each cycle.
We then move back through the stages to stage one (light) sleep. There follows a period of REM sleep before the next cycle of NREM sleep begins.
On average, each one of these cycles takes about 60- 100 minutes, varying from person to person.
Just as much, every business, product or service has a cycle of four stages – Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline.
Introduction – This is the stage when a new idea is first introduced to the market. If the product is new to the market you may either enjoy a monopoly or a competitive market.
As a business, you are in a position to make frequent product modifications as the product is refined for your market.
You can try different strategies, where you set a relatively high price for a product or service at first, then lower the price over time or set a relatively low initial entry price to attract new customers.
Growth – At this stage, your sales may start to grow fast. It is important to make the most of the growth stage, when profits are highest. As competition enters, you may offer product variations to attract more customers. At this stage all your developments costs have been recovered, and your sales volume has brought a positive return on investment.
Maturity – At this stage sales level of profits fall, and competition gets tougher and more intense as businesses fight for a smaller share of the pie.
In some instances, this may result in price wars. Product revisions may emphasise style rather than function.
If you have the opportunity, widen or extend product lines. Undercutting competition may be a little risky.
Decline – This is caused by a long-run drop in sales. New products may be introduced to replace the old.
For survival, fewer products may remain reduced with a focus on reminders. Price cutting may produce some benefits.
Comparatively, in the sleep scenario, you will notice that the first period of deep sleep is the longest.
The stages of deep sleep get shorter and shorter, and eventually are non-existent towards the end of the night. Some businesses experience this quick rise and thunderous fall. Just as much, some products become so popular at the introductory stage, they overgrow and before we know it, they are at their decline stage. Take heed of these kinds of industries that record such highs.
The challenge in our society is that our sleep systems have been weakened by so many outside stressors that we are not even aware of.
As a result of the demands our society, such as work, children, and social life, most of us can’t sleep during the day. In an environment of business uncertainty, there are challenges that you must overcome – the ideal time to invest, rising interest rates, rising inflation. Both the external and internal influencers must be dealt with. At the end of a human life, physical changes can be seen-the body begins its natural process of slowing down all its functions.
How long this takes varies from person to person – it may take hours or days. Similarly, a business at the decline stage may only be left with the option of selling off the business entirely.
Don’t fight it, don’t despair, that is how everything was made, there is a time for everything, you had a beginning and now it is the end.
Till next week, may God richly bless you!!
Shelter Chieza is an advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
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