Longevity: The fundamental mission?       [Look to nature to foster long-lived businesses] (SME & Entrepreneur Review, 2009)

Mark Pruett business professor website SMEE Longevity fundamental mission article cover image
Donald O'Neal, Mark Pruett
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise & Entrepreneur Review, 2 (1), 8-12
Publication year: 2009

Why do so many companies fail?  For long life, look to nature’s organizations — make group health + survival the primary mission, act on that mission + focus on attracting, retaining + developing members.

Abstract

This paper discusses what managers can learn about mission and long-term survival from living organisms. We look at how animal organizations differ from human business organizations, and explore reasons why the biological organizations seem to be more successful at long-term survival, or longevity. We discuss how defining an organization’s purpose as longevity may be useful, and challenge managers to consider three key questions.