Businesses could learn lessons from evolution
- Date:
- June 29, 2010
- Source:
- University of Hertfordshire
- Summary:
- New research in the UK suggests that solutions for many of today's business challenges can be found in evolutionary processes.
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Research carried out by a University of Hertfordshire Professor of Business Studies to be published next month claims that solutions for many of today's business challenges can be found in evolutionary processes.
According to Professor Geoffrey Hodgson at the University's Business School, businesses which are considering major change at the moment should proceed with caution; they could do better to learn from evolution and copy and replicate rather than create new processes.
"Change needs to be experimental and cautious," said Professor Hodgson. "We have to understand the cost of change. If we look to nature, we can find answers in the way in which biological evolution preserves information over a period. This helps to explain why many successful firms, when setting up new plants, try to copy exactly everything about the make-up and routines of the existing plants."
Professor Hodgson's arguments are outlined in a paper entitled "Generative replication and the evolution of complexity," which was co-authored by Professor Thorbjørn Knudsen at the University of Southern Denmark. The paper will be published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation next month.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Hertfordshire. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Thorbjørn Knudsen. Generative replication and the evolution of complexity. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2010; 75 (1): 12 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2010.03.008
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