Expansion or Contraction?

I’ve adopted a rather simplistic viewpoint when it comes to understanding the lifecycle of any business. You might agree with me or you might not, but one thing I’ve begun to notice is that all businesses are either in a state of expansion or contraction… It doesn’t seem to matter what industry, market, product, or segment you manufacture or service.

Change it seems is a constant that makes no preferences, and so all businesses large or small must plan for, deal with, and accept change as a way of life – or suffer the consequences of not recognizing or preparing for it – but either way change delivers an opportunity for businesses to either expand or contract.

Expansion it seems is always a positive, but does Contraction always result in a negative? Anyone have an opinion or related experience?