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This study aims to determine whether the financial ecosystem is reliable for evaluating a company’s financial performance at various lifecycle stages or whether value-based performance metrics like Economic Value Added (EVA) are the most comprehensive indicators regardless of the company’s lifecycle stage. The evaluation will analyse the importance of value-based and accounting performance benchmarks (EVA, Return on Capital Employed, Return on Equity and Earnings per Share) in creating shareholder value, as measured by market value added, throughout the company’s lifecycle.

This study is based on a robust empirical analysis of 228 Indian firms listed on the National Stock Exchange Nifty 500 Index from 2006 to 2023. By considering firms of different sizes and ages, the authors aim to capture and analyse any distinct impact across various stages of their lifecycles. Using quantile regression for analysis equips the authors to effectively address extreme events such as the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, making the method particularly suitable for conditionally distributed samples based on size and age.

The research reveals that various performance indicators are crucial at different stages of a company’s lifecycle for generating wealth for shareholders. However, considering the significance of the EVA measure, it is recommended that policymakers standardize the calculation of EVA and mandate its disclosure.

The authors comprehensively analysed the economic value addition relative to a company’s size and age, going beyond previous studies that focused solely on specific size categories. This offers managers valuable insights into aligning business performance measures with the various stages of the business lifecycle.