A new methodology of measuring firm life-cycle stages

Firm life-cycle concept has been used in a variety of disciplines, including economics, finance and accounting, and also in the real-world investment. This paper develops a new methodology of measuring firm life-cycle stages. By comparing a firm's status at each point of its development with its own historical overall status, this methodology can be applied in studies of large-sample time-series properties within each stage. We use real-world firm data to illustrate and validate our methodology.