Unveiling corporate life cycle complexity: utilizing dynamic capabilities to reconfigure SME trajectories across mini-cycles

Purpose This study examines how an eighteen-year-old small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) advances through different stages of the corporate life cycle (CLC) using the integrated perspectives of CLC theory and the dynamic capabilities theory (DCT). Design/methodology/approach A single-case study traces eighteen years of Jia Zhong Zun Bao's (JZZB's) strategic evolution through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, process tracing, and analysis of archival materials. Findings JZZB advanced from birth to growth without reaching maturity, exhibiting within-stage mini-cycles where sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring enabled recovery from shocks, highlighting the non-linear nature of SME development. Research limitations/implications The evidence is derived from a single China-based firm; transferability depends on the mechanism fit and contextual similarity. The contribution is analytically generalizable to process mechanisms rather than populations. Transferability depends on mechanism fit and contextual similarity along four dimensions: institutional quality, channel structure, resource slack, and leadership density. Practical implications SMEs should invest in repeatable sensing routines, fast decision protocols, and modular resource reconfiguration to shorten recovery cycles and sustain growth. Social implications Policies that strengthen standards clarity, finance access, skills, and digital infrastructure can amplify the payoffs to firm capabilities in emerging-economy settings. Originality/value This study integrates CLC theory with DCT in an SME context, highlighting within-stage mini-cycles and advancing analytical generalization to process regularities rather than population estimates.