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*'''The crabs can pole-vault''': Individuals can move from firm to firm; {{risk|gene}}s cannot leave one host and join another (except via reproduction) <br>
*'''The crabs can pole-vault''': Individuals can move from firm to firm; {{risk|gene}}s cannot leave one host and join another (except via reproduction) <br>
*'''Firm’s don’t “[[evolve]]”''': However transfixed their executives might be with evolutionary {{tag|metaphor}}s, [[Corporation|corporations]] do ''not'' evolve like organisms. That would involve dying. Firms adapt during life. This is [[Lamarckian evolution]]<ref>Being a great biological heresy.</ref> at best. But, since the crabs can pole-vault, a Lamarckian approach might make sense: The firm is a vessel for replicating {{risk|individual}}s. It is not a replicator itself.  
*'''Firm’s don’t “[[evolve]]”''': However transfixed their executives might be with evolutionary {{tag|metaphor}}s, [[Corporation|corporations]] do ''not'' evolve like organisms. That would involve dying. Firms adapt during life. This is [[Lamarckian evolution]]<ref>Being a great biological heresy.</ref> at best. But, since the crabs can pole-vault, a Lamarckian approach might make sense: The firm is a vessel for replicating {{risk|individual}}s. It is not a replicator itself.  
*'''The {{risklfirm}} has NO conscience''': No matter how often we tell ourselves it has a corporate [[legal personality|personality]], responsibility and “conscience”, ''these are '''fictions'''''.  A firm has no personality other than the one that emerges from the individuals comprising it. Ouija board style.<br>
*'''The {{risk|firm}} has NO conscience''': No matter how often we tell ourselves it has a corporate [[legal personality|personality]], responsibility and “conscience”, ''these are '''fictions'''''.  A firm has no personality other than the one that emerges from the individuals comprising it. Ouija board style.<br>
Just as the evolutionary fitness of an organism can only be explained by the reproductive capacity of its genes, so the fitness of an {{risk|firm}} is a function of the survival instincts of its employees.<br>
Just as the evolutionary fitness of an organism can only be explained by the reproductive capacity of its genes, so the fitness of an {{risk|firm}} is a function of the survival instincts of its employees.<br>

Revision as of 17:56, 8 January 2019

Risk Anatomy™


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In the benign market model, the basic unit of commercial replication is the individual. The analogy to the ecosystem is close but not perfect:

  • The crabs can pole-vault: Individuals can move from firm to firm; genes cannot leave one host and join another (except via reproduction)
  • Firm’s don’t “evolve: However transfixed their executives might be with evolutionary metaphors, corporations do not evolve like organisms. That would involve dying. Firms adapt during life. This is Lamarckian evolution[1] at best. But, since the crabs can pole-vault, a Lamarckian approach might make sense: The firm is a vessel for replicating individuals. It is not a replicator itself.
  • The firm has NO conscience: No matter how often we tell ourselves it has a corporate personality, responsibility and “conscience”, these are fictions. A firm has no personality other than the one that emerges from the individuals comprising it. Ouija board style.

Just as the evolutionary fitness of an organism can only be explained by the reproductive capacity of its genes, so the fitness of an firm is a function of the survival instincts of its employees.

  1. Being a great biological heresy.