Both general scientific methods for studying management systems and sociological methods for studying management systems determine several stages in the formation of a company as an economic institution.
The first stage of the research methods of control systems is defined as the process of deinstitutionalization of pre-existing entities. It should be noted that this stage proceeds in conditions of uncertainty and high risk. Institutions of the command economy are “abolished”, and new market institutions are in the process of formation. Existing institutions are not enough to fulfill their main role - the shock absorber of the uncertainty of the future.
In this regard, economic methods for the study of control systems consider the activities of the company, identifying it with survival in the new conditions, because it can not quickly adapt. Many methods for studying management systems, as well as mechanisms, were not previously used either in a command or in a market economy, which gives the right to call them non-traditional: non-payments and money substitutes, various forms of tax evasion and maintaining a balance between accounts payable and receivable, increase the number of barter transactions and offsets, non-core trade operations, deferred payments, etc.
According to a survey of a number of enterprises conducted in the summer of 2011, the share of barter weighted by the size of the revenue of enterprises, although not comparable to the 90s, is nevertheless still not an anachronism. The low level of competitiveness and related sales problems forced many enterprises to resort to temporary full or partial shutdown of production and to send workers and employees on leave at their own expense. In the 90s, almost half of the enterprises resorted to these measures: 55% were forced to stop production, and 42.2% to provide leave without maintenance.
Modern methods of researching control systems prove that the purpose of the functioning of the company at the first stage is to keep “afloat” in conditions of uncertainty and risk. However, this phase should have the shortest possible period, since the desire to use the uncertainty situation to maximize personal gain leads to unstable functioning and, as a result, the "death" of the company.
Thus, the goal of the company in the second stage is to increase the stability and efficiency of its functioning due to the transformation of the internal organization.
At the stage of "maturity of the company" changes the nature of the relationship of the company with the external environment. At the same time, “maturity” consists in the ability of the company to actively engage in the formation of an external working environment convenient for itself, and for this they can give up part of their own profit by investing it in the transaction sector of the economy.
At this stage, the company seeks to transfer part of the risk to the relevant institutions (in the future we will call them external), which reduce uncertainty and reduce the corresponding transaction costs. At this stage, the company makes a demand for market institutions, and if the emerging demand is not satisfied with the corresponding offer of formal institutions (or their quality) from the state, it actively participates in the formation of the institutional environment in which it operates. This participation should discourage the creation of “pseudo-institutions”.
Thus, the goal of the company in the third stage is to maintain sustainable functioning through active participation in the formation of the institutional environment.
In science and practice, other approaches to the study of the company, as a new phenomenon of business activity for our economic reality, have taken shape. However, with all possible approaches, the basic, fundamental principle should be the provision on its consideration (of the company), with reference to the specific conditions of state policy and market conditions.