About The Fall:

The Fall is positioned at the top of the Lifecycle curve, but it is not the place to be. Companies in the Fall stage have started to lose their vitality and are aging. When an organization first begins to age, the symptoms won't show up on its financial reports. In fact, the opposite is true. Fall companies are often cash rich and have strong financial statements.

About Aristocracy:

The effects of the steady decline in flexibility, which began in Prime, start to become more obvious in Aristocracy. Because it has neglected to pursue long-term opportunities, the company's focus becomes increasingly short-term. For the most part, its goals are financially orientated and low-risk. With less of a long term view, the climate in an Aristocratic organization is relatively stale.

About Recrimination:

When an Aristocracy is unable to reverse its downward spiral and the artificial repairs finally stop working, management's mutual admiration society abruptly ends. The good-old-buddy days of the Aristocracy are gone, and the witch-hunts of Recrimination begin. Companies in this stage focus on who caused the problems, rather than what to do about them.