Young and Middle-aged Inertia Management: The Path to Sustainable Corporate Development

Author: Yan Jiaming
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: Since the concept of scientific management was proposed, research on enterprise management and development has spanned nearly a century. New management ideas have emerged endlessly. However, when looking at the history and current state of enterprise development worldwide, the fundamental question of how enterprises can maintain sustained healthy growth remains largely unresolved. If we compare the analysis and diagnosis of enterprise management and development to the treatment of human diseases, it is true that both have seen significant improvements in technical terms over time. However, in terms of practical outcomes, their effects are vastly different. The latter has extended human lifespans, while the former has failed to achieve the same for enterprises. Why is this the case? In my opinion, this difference in outcomes is not due to any inherent flaws in various management theories, but rather because they focus solely on addressing direct, superficial problems in enterprise development, emphasizing strategic research, and fail to recognize that the root cause of unsustainable growth is not a lack of ideas or strategies, but rather the inertial nature of enterprise development. Just as natural objects in the world have an inherent tendency to maintain their state of motion, enterprises also resist changes to their own developmental patterns. This resistance to change is a characteristic of inertia. Because people overlook the existence of this inertial nature and fail to analyze and manage it effectively, the implementation of various management theories and methods suffers, and their intended effects are not fully realized. The inertial nature of enterprise development refers to the internal demand of enterprises to maintain the stability of their developmental paradigms, a property inherent to the enterprise itself. It indicates that enterprises have a certain resistance to change, and the occurrence of change is characterized by inertia. Due to its existence, enterprise development follows a certain pattern: when there is no perceived pressure, threat, crisis, or setback (external forces), enterprises will continue along their original developmental path and operational models.