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The Corporate Life Cycle

Business, Investment, and Management Implications

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THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING COMPANY GROWTH AND DECLINE —FROM THE UNDISPUTED EXPERT ON VALUATION

Throughout his storied career, Aswath Damodaran has searched for the universal key to demystify corporate finance and valuation. Now, at last, he offers the groundbreaking answer to readers everywhere.

It turns out there is a corporate lifecycle very much like our own — with unique stages of growth and decline. And just as we must learn to act our age, so too must companies. 

By better understanding how corporations age and the characteristics of each stage of their lifecycle, we can unlock the secrets behind any businesses behavior and optimize our management and investment decisions accordingly.

In Aswath Damodaran’s The Corporate Life Cycle, readers will learn—
  • What markers tell where a company falls on its corporate lifecycle, and crucial insights for managers as they navigate the different stages
  • Why the shape and timing of life cycles varies across different industries
  • When transition points pose special challenges to companies—and strategies to conquer them
  • How differences in investment philosophies, in particular the divide between growth and value investing, should lead investors towards companies at different lifecycle stages

As the corporate lifecycle touches virtually every aspect of business, this book is for anyone with skin in the corporate finance game—from managers to investors, from novices to seasoned pros. Aswath Damodaran’s The Corporate Life Cycle is the definitive guide to understanding businesses growth, behavior, and value.
Known as “the Dean of Valuation,” Aswath Damodaran is a Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University where he teaches corporate finance and equity valuation. He has published extensively in academic journals, written many books for practitioners, and remains the world’s foremost expert on the subject on corporate valuation. Additionally, he splits his time between New York City and San Diego. View titles by Aswath Damodaran

About

THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING COMPANY GROWTH AND DECLINE —FROM THE UNDISPUTED EXPERT ON VALUATION

Throughout his storied career, Aswath Damodaran has searched for the universal key to demystify corporate finance and valuation. Now, at last, he offers the groundbreaking answer to readers everywhere.

It turns out there is a corporate lifecycle very much like our own — with unique stages of growth and decline. And just as we must learn to act our age, so too must companies. 

By better understanding how corporations age and the characteristics of each stage of their lifecycle, we can unlock the secrets behind any businesses behavior and optimize our management and investment decisions accordingly.

In Aswath Damodaran’s The Corporate Life Cycle, readers will learn—
  • What markers tell where a company falls on its corporate lifecycle, and crucial insights for managers as they navigate the different stages
  • Why the shape and timing of life cycles varies across different industries
  • When transition points pose special challenges to companies—and strategies to conquer them
  • How differences in investment philosophies, in particular the divide between growth and value investing, should lead investors towards companies at different lifecycle stages

As the corporate lifecycle touches virtually every aspect of business, this book is for anyone with skin in the corporate finance game—from managers to investors, from novices to seasoned pros. Aswath Damodaran’s The Corporate Life Cycle is the definitive guide to understanding businesses growth, behavior, and value.

Author

Known as “the Dean of Valuation,” Aswath Damodaran is a Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University where he teaches corporate finance and equity valuation. He has published extensively in academic journals, written many books for practitioners, and remains the world’s foremost expert on the subject on corporate valuation. Additionally, he splits his time between New York City and San Diego. View titles by Aswath Damodaran

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Aswath Damodaran’s The Corporate Life Cycle: Implications for Managing and Investing

By: Aswath Damodaran For much of the last decade, I have been incorporating the idea that companies age, just like human beings do, and with just as much reluctance, into my corporate finance, valuation and investment philosophies classes. In short, it has become my one unifying construct that I can use to explain or at

Read more