| Opis: | Every company »lives« its own life – it exists from the moment of its establishment, undergoes quantitative changes, and continues to do so until its termination. The life of a company can be more easily illustrated through the concept of a life cycle, which originally stems from biology. A key role in the company's life cycle is played by management, which must respond appropriately to changes, make timely decisions, and prevent potential crises. If a crisis is not recognized in time and addressed with appropriate measures, it can negatively affect the company's operations and, in the worst-case scenario, even threaten its existence in the market.
This master's thesis consists of two parts – theoretical and empirical. In the first, theoretical part, we explored the theoretical foundations of various authors regarding the life cycle of a company, highlighted the stages of the life cycle, and examined the life cycle model developed by Pümpin and Prange (1995). We studied crises within companies, identified their causes and phases, explained crisis management, and delved into developmental crises throughout a company's life cycle. Additionally, we presented the MER model of integral management and the integration of the model's process dimensions.
In the empirical part, we focused on a case study of a selected retail company that has been operating in the Slovenian market since 1991. To protect sensitive data, we referred to the company as »Zvezda Ltd.«. We presented the company, outlined its beginnings and activities, identified its mission and vision, examined its core values, and highlighted key strategic goals. We described its main strategic orientations and sustainable development initiatives and listed its achievements resulting from effective and successfully executed projects. We also explained its education, training, and recruitment systems and mentiones key performance indicators. Furthermore, we analyzed the life cycle of the selected company using the Pümpin and Prange (1995) method to identify the presence of specific life cycle phase elements, and found that the company exhibits the most characteristics of a growing company. We also assessed the company's crisis status using Pümpin and Prange's (1995) model for identifying corporate crises, as well as Kropfberger's (2003) model of corporate crisis phases. The empirical part concludes with proposals for normative and other policy measures, as well as strategic management-level measures to prevent or mitigate the deepening of a crisis within the selected company. Finally, we summarized key findings and answered the research questions posed. |
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