Taking business cues from nature: How to adapt survival skills from nature to thrive during business uncertainty

Since the mid-1770s, when the Industrial Revolution began to supplant feudalism and agrarianism, humans’ drive for progress has been relentless. However, the unchecked interaction of humanity and nature has sparked a domino-effect of inconvenient truths regarding sustainability.

As we reflect on how we got here and how we might move forward, let’s look to nature for business inspiration. Our planet has resiliently fostered life for more than 3.5 billion years. And many of the learnings from nature’s ingenious systems are transferable to modern businesses.

In this blog series, I draw parallels between nature and business world applications. Today, let’s look at adapting for survival.

The curious case of Alaskan wood frogs

Nature offers remarkable examples of endurance and survival through extreme conditions. For instance, as residents of North America’s often frigid forests, Alaskan wood frogs take survival seriously . Through chemical body changes and burrowing deep into the leafy forest floor, two-thirds of their body water turns to ice. Within this state, they hibernate until the land thaws. Scientists don’t understand what restarts the frog’s heart after being inert for months, but once it does, the creature heads off to a breeding pond undamaged by conditions that would be fatal to other animals.

Businesses must also adapt to keep up with high-impact market trends or inhospitable operating environments. Let’s examine three fundamental adaptation principles – Agility, Innovation, and Transformation – and ways businesses can apply them.

Agility to reimagine the product line

In an increasingly dynamic world where customer needs and expectations evolve rapidly, firms that cling to a static, waterfall-approach to product design put their relevancy in jeopardy. Successful customer-centric businesses understand market values and preferences and reimagine products and services to fit current and evolving market expectations.

The ongoing metamorphosis of Coty

Iconic cosmetics manufacturer Coty has remained relevant for more than a century through acquisitions, celebrity partnerships, and broad diversification in a fickle industry known for intense competition and short-lived success. At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the company, again, pivoted deftly. An early supporter of a UN initiative that encourages businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, Coty quickly joined the battle against the coronavirus in the United States. The company nimbly assembled a team to manufacture and package hydro-alcoholic hand sanitizer and provided it to medical and emergency services at no charge, along with face masks.

Innovation at the right pace and time

Unlike in nature, where adaptation builds over time, future-focused businesses proactively adapt to hedge against sudden disruption and potential extinction. Successful innovation synchronizes with customer sentiment. Based on the study of customer insights, innovation positions new offerings to be understood, appreciated, and used by targeted end-users.

The hibernation of Kodak

No discussion of business adaptation is complete without mentioning Kodak’s journey from Kodak moment to disappearance with the advent of digital photography. The company attempted to reinvent itself with KODAKCoin , a photo-centric cryptocurrency that aimed to empower photographers and agencies to take greater control of image rights management. Unfortunately, the offer was limited to accredited investors, which excluded most intended users. The cryptocurrency payoff wasn’t successful, and Kodak indefinitely sidelined the project.[1] [2] [3]

Apple’s insight

Although Apple basks in the light of its innovative brand, it may have best reflected its genius with its meticulously timed iPad launch. The 2010 product kickoff targeted a market that already embraced the tablet’s features. Wi-Fi was already widely adopted, which set the scene for iPad to become an indispensable and universal tool to check email, view videos, and read books, magazines, and blogs. The product hit the market as mass consumption of digital content was burgeoning, which illustrated Apple’s keen sense of its customers’ pulse and insight to leverage perfect timing.[4]

Transforming the business and operating model

The evolution of a business is not merely a function of adding new products. Progress depends on the sum of all processes, operations, and behind-the-scene interactions. A successful venture needs the agility to respond swiftly to internal and external change.

Alton Lane evolves

With 12 US showrooms, menswear purveyor Alton Lane built its business model around fit and personalization. Its innovative in-store experience features 3D body scanners that measure precisely to ensure a flattering fit. Pandemic lockdown restrictions severely impacted the retailer’s value proposition. Still, within weeks, the store was mailing out self-measuring guides and fabric swatches and conducting virtual customer fittings via video call for suits, blazers, shirts, and trousers. Alton Lane responded to the unexpected with agility, expanded its customer base , and introduced a face mask line made from fabric remnants, which it offers to first responders and others.[5] [6]

Is your business as flexible as an Alaskan wood frog?

Without going into deep freeze, you might consider ways to:

• Become an ambidextrous organization – Find the right balance between being a leader in the current ecosystem and remaining at the forefront of innovation. Exploit and explore simultaneously to mitigate the impact of unforeseen circumstances and flexibly adapt to change.
• Leverage emerging technologies –Consider artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Internet of Things to mine data and create deep insights to build a resilient business model and adapt your products/services to meet and foresee your customers’ needs.
• Embrace the Open X platform – We coined the term Open X at Capgemini to describe open ecosystems that help companies create an integrated marketplace where participants seamlessly exchange data and services, innovate quickly, and deliver delight-inducing customer experience.

Closing note

As naturalist Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Within today’s interconnected world linked by supply chains, communications technology, and travel, a blip in one hemisphere can quickly cause evolutionary ripples in the other. That’s why businesses must be nimble and agile. Survival and business continuity are contingent on handling unforeseen ecosystem shifts just as nature springs back even under the harshest of circumstances. Ultimately, the organizations that adapt successfully are those that make strategic investments in people and technology.

The author would like to thank Rasuka Kishore, Shubhita Garg, and Tamara Berry for their contributions to this article

PS: If you want to look for articles from the author search for #AmitChoudhary

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[1] ?The Verge , “Kodak announces its own cryptocurrency and watches stock price skyrocket,” Jan 9, 2018

[2] ?PetaPixel , “How Kodak is Seeking to Reinvent Itself After Failing to Adapt,” Sep 24, 2020

[3] ?Paypath , “Kodak's new cryptocurrency could streamline digital image rights”, Feb 22, 2018

[4] ?Smashing Magazine , “5 Characteristics Of An Innovation,” Jan 29, 2015

[5] ?GrowWire , “3 Retailers Detail How They’re Coping With COVID-19,” Apr 29, 2020

[6] ?Forbes , “Behind the scenes with Alton Lane, the leading purveyor of premium bespoke menswear,” Mar 17, 2020