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Global Mind Leaders (18 May 2016) - "The Biology of Corporate Survival"
Article
Title
" The Biology of Corporate Survival "
Description
Natural ecosystems hold surprising lessons for business.
by Martin Reeves, Simon Levin and Daichi Ueda
( Harvard Business Review ).
Idea In Brief
The Challlenge
Companies have ever shorter life spans because they are failing to adapt to the increasing complexity of the business environment. Too often they pursue approaches to strategy that emphasize short-term performance over long-term robustness.
Companies have ever shorter life spans because they are failing to adapt to the increasing complexity of the business environment. Too often they pursue approaches to strategy that emphasize short-term performance over long-term robustness.
The Analysis
Like biological species, companies are "complex adaptive systems" that continually evolve in hard-to-predict ways. Local interactions cascade and reshape the entire system; the new structure then in uences individual agents, resulting in further changes to the system.
Like biological species, companies are "complex adaptive systems" that continually evolve in hard-to-predict ways. Local interactions cascade and reshape the entire system; the new structure then in uences individual agents, resulting in further changes to the system.
The Solution
Six principles that make a natural CAS robust apply to companies, which should:
• maintain heterogeneity of people, ideas, and endeavors
• sustain a modular structure
• preserve redundancy among components
• expect surprise, but reduce uncertainty
• create feedback loops and adaptive mechanisms
• foster trust and reciprocity in their business ecosystems
Six principles that make a natural CAS robust apply to companies, which should:
• maintain heterogeneity of people, ideas, and endeavors
• sustain a modular structure
• preserve redundancy among components
• expect surprise, but reduce uncertainty
• create feedback loops and adaptive mechanisms
• foster trust and reciprocity in their business ecosystems
