The survival and prosperity of firms are contingent on their ability to constantly adjust to the state and dynamics of their environments by swiftly embracing the right combination of generic exploration and exploitation strategies. We propose a novel theoretical model linking the pursuit of exploration and exploitation approaches with firm failure in the medium term, stressing the role of the firm life cycle that substantively shapes the underlying relationships. The model is empirically tested using the firm-level data from a large panel dataset from 1988 to 2019 across multiple industries, revealing the moderating impact of the five stages of the firm life cycle (and the transition period between them) on the relation between exploration/exploitation strategies and the likelihood of firm failure. The findings indicate that exploration has a significant negative impact on the likelihood of firm failure during the growth, maturity, and transition stages; however, it significantly increases the likelihood of firm failure in the introduction, shakeout, and decline stages. Exploitation, on the other hand, has a significant negative impact on the likelihood of firm failure in the introduction and maturity stages yet amplifies the probability of failure in the transition phase.

企业的生存和繁荣取决于它们能否通过迅速采用通用勘探和开发战略的正确组合来不断适应环境的状态和动态。我们提出了一个新颖的理论模型，将探索和开发方法的追求与中期的企业失败联系起来，强调企业生命周期在实质上塑造潜在关系的作用。该模型使用 1988 年至 2019 年跨多个行业的大型面板数据集中的企业级数据进行了实证检验，揭示了企业生命周期的五个阶段（以及它们之间的过渡期）对探索之间关系的调节影响/开发策略和公司失败的可能性。研究结果表明，勘探对企业在成长、成熟和转型阶段失败的可能性有显着的负面影响；然而，它显着增加了公司在引入、洗牌和衰退阶段失败的可能性。另一方面，剥削对企业在引入和成熟阶段失败的可能性有显着的负面影响，但会增加过渡阶段失败的可能性。