Abstract: Based on 2008~2010 Shanghai A-share listed companies, the relationship between top managers' compensation and company performance at various life-cycle stages was tested by an empirical research. It was found that the choices of performance standards in designing top managers' compensation contract are different at various life-cycle stages. The companies in the initial and growing periods prefer to select performance standards with both financial and market modes, such as return rate on net assets and stock market value; those in the maturity period have preference for market mode performance standard, such as stock market value; those at the recession stage only pay attention to rate of cost reduction and adopt financial mode performance standard. What is more, the empirical research findings indicated that value mode performance standard is ignored in designing top managers' compensation contract, which leads to a comparatively lower value creation ability for China's listed companies.