Toynbee's Philosophy of History Adapted for Business Management - A Case Study and Theorization

Abstract

Arnold J. Toynbee(1889-1975), in his A Study of History, put

forward a philosophy of history based on an analysis of the

cyclical development and decline of civilizations. Toynbee

examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of

human history, and concluded that civilizations rose when the

leaders, in his own words: creative minorities, responded

successfully to challenges, and declined when the leaders

stopped responding creatively. Unlike Oswald Spengler who, in

his the Decline of the West, saw the rise and fall of a civilization

as a natural life-cycle process, Toynbee did not saw the death of

a civilization as inevitable. He saw the rise or fall of civilizations

as depending on the success or failure of the leaders response

to the challenges. In other words, a civilization can last as long

as the leaders continue to succeed in responding to successive

challenges.