Triggers of Corporate Change

The need for corporate change can be caused both externally and internally. Externally, companies are faced with an increasingly dynamic environment that requires constant adaptation of their own structures if they want to be successful in the sales markets, but also in the preceding procurement markets. External change is caused by the market environment, politics, technology, ecology, the economy as a whole or institutions, as well as in the markets themselves, for example through increasing competition. To explain internal change, the metaphor of human development is used, which—like corporate development—is characterized by a sequence of growth, crisis and higher maturity. So-called life cycle models for explaining the ongoing maturity process of companies exist, which show the typical development phases as examples. However, change is often necessary because companies often overstretch the straightforward spirit of their efforts when they are successful. Here, too, the reference to the human psyche is established and this phenomenon is analogously referred to as “burn-out.”