THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS: LEARNING, INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE 21st CENTURY

摘要

This paper - as part of a broader evolutionary inquiry toward human fulfillment, societal wellbeing, and environmental sustainability - explores new frontiers for business. In a rapidly changing global environment, corporations can become evolutionary change agents for the creation of a sustainable global civilization by fostering financial, social, and environmental results. The contemporary metaphors used to describe the business world can be limited in times when an emergent paradigm calls for new visions and actions. An evolutionary understanding, grounded in evolutionary systems theory, can open possibilities for leadership and innovation toward sustainability. Complex systems, such as organizations, need to learn to learn in harmony with the dynamics of their mileu in order to co-evolve and create value. The paper concludes with a reflection on the implications of the evolutionary paradigm for business education.