1st Edition
Bioinspired Strategic Design Nature-Inspired Principles for Dynamic Business Environments
Organizations are commonly thrust into hostile operating environments where they are required to make strategic decisions that involve significant and costly tradeoffs. Such hostile environments may be endemic such as an economic recession or idiosyncratic such as a predatory action by an adversary. Many features of such hostile environments parallel those of living organisms that also demonstrate fine-tuned strategies to improve their survivability under adverse conditions. How can organizations use these “bioinspired strategies” to survive, and even potentially innovate?
This book shows that the same three capabilities essential for the survival of living organisms in harsh environments –- efficiency, resilience, and prominence -- are also critical for organizations in their process of navigating through their own hostile environments. Throughout the book, the authors provide organizational executives with a systematic framework for thinking about strategic decision-making in a hostile environment leaning on analysis of real-world cases to draw out ontologies and methods for guiding their teams through disruptions, change management, innovation, and process improvements.
In the first part, organizations are provided with a systematic approach to analyzing three survivability influences – forces, resources, and observers and their interrelationships. While all three influences are active across all organisms (and organizations), the exact nature of their interrelationship and the significance of each influence are unique to every organism (or organization). The framework helps organizations nail down the specific features of their operating environment that can help or hinder survivability by analyzing the three influences. Organizations can respond to external influences by developing three-pronged capabilities – efficiency, resilience, and prominence (ERP), that respond to the three survivability influences. Organizations often struggle with identifying the appropriate strategies to apply under different conditions. Fortunately, nature provides several mechanisms that can be analogically applied to guide business strategies.
The book contains many illustrations and examples of strategic principles observed among living organisms that can help an organization develop ERP capability. Finally, the book introduces seven strategic design heuristics – Combination, Elimination, Separation, Segmentation, Replication, Dynamics, and Maximization observed in a living system that can be flexibly utilized to generate ideas to achieve strategic ends.
Chapter 1: Strategic Design for Survivability
Chapter 2: Efficiency and Resilience Strategies
Chapter 3: Prominence Strategies
Chapter 4: Natural Design Heuristics
Chapter 5: Mixed Design Heuristics
Chapter 6: ERP-Focused Strategic Planning
Chapter 7: Bioinspired Product Design
Biography
Daniel Finkenstadt, PhD is a professional military officer and previously an Assistant Professor in the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Department of Defense Management offering courses in Enterprise Sourcing. Dr. Finkenstadt is the principal at Wolf Stake Consulting LLC and holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2020). He has over 20 years of defense contracting experience in operational (base level), systems center, headquarters, joint, overseas and classified environments. He is also a graduate of NPS (M.B.A., 2011).
His research interests are perceived service quality, value, business-to-government markets, professional services (knowledge-based services), and non-traditional government contractor motivations. He was the founder and Principal Investigator for the new Simulation and Ideation Lab for Applied Science (SILAS) at NPS. He has published three articles in the Harvard Business Review, including the recent Jul/Aug 2023 cover article along with Dr. Eapen. He has published various works in the National Contract Management Association Contract Management Magazine, Defense Acquisition Review Journal, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, the Milbank Quarterly, and California Management Review.
Tojin T. Eapen, PhD is an innovation consultant, corporate educator, and practitioner-academic with expertise in idea management, creative artificial intelligence, and bioinspired system design. He is currently a principal consultant and head of the Global Innovation Center (GIC) at Innomantra. As an academic, he has taught at prominent institutions including the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business at the University of Missouri and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Throughout his career, he has successfully bridged the gap between academia and industry, providing innovation consultancy and training services to companies of all sizes, from small and medium-scale enterprises to Fortune 500 corporations, spanning diverse sectors. With a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MBA from the Indian School of Business, and a background in Electrical Engineering, he brings a diverse skill set to the table in his consulting and executive education projects. Dr. Eapen has collaborated with renowned organizations such as Google, Samsung, ABB, KBR, Robert Bosch, NetApp, Qualcomm, Bureau Veritas, SKF, and Newell Brands, among others, delivering training and strategic guidance on innovation since 2010. He has shared his applied insights through platforms like Harvard Business Review and California Management Review, in addition to contributing to conferences like the Global Peter Drucker Forum and research outlets.
Bioinspired Strategic Design is not just another business book. Using principles from biology and AI it takes a fresh and innovative look at how these tools can create innovative products and help plan and build more efficient and resilient organizations.
-- Steve Blank, Founding member of the Gordian Knot Center, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University
As a CEO in supply chain visibility and resilience, I highly recommend 'Bioinspired Strategic Design.' This book offers valuable insights and practical guidance for organizations looking to enhance their strategic decision-making and build resilient operations.
-- Bindiya Vakil, CEO and founder of Resilinc
As life in nature adapts to changing circumstances in order to survive, so too can businesses, organizations, and individuals learn to not only survive but to thrive through the principles of bioinspiration deduced and illuminated by the authors of Bioinspired Strategic Design. They show how you can apply the wellsprings of creation to methodically explore and creatively design innovative, robust, and resilient solutions to problems that, in the end, will further human flourishing.
-- B. Joseph Pine II, coauthor, The Experience Economy: Competing for Customer Time, Attention, and Money
As life in nature adapts to changing circumstances in order to survive, so too can businesses, organizations, and individuals learn to not only survive but to thrive through the principles of bioinspiration deduced and illuminated by the authors of Bioinspired Strategic Design. They show how you can apply the wellsprings of creation to methodically explore and creatively design innovative, robust, and resilient solutions to problems that, in the end, will further human flourishing.
-- B. Joseph Pine II, coauthor, The Experience Economy: Competing for Customer Time, Attention, and Money
How to get creative ideas is the holy grail for companies. In this amazing and innovative book, Drs. Finkenstadt and Eapen argue that nature is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. But how to leverage nature? Packed with practical examples and end-of-chapter exercises, Bioinspired Strategic Design shows the way. A must-read for anybody in search of creative inspiration! And who isn’t?
-- Jan-Benedict Steenkamp, Massey Distinguished Professor of Marketing & Leadership, University of North Carolina, Author of Time to Lead: Lessons for Today’s Leaders from Bold Decisions that Changed History
This book is an absolute gem! As natural, analogical thinkers we have much to learn from nature when curious enough to do so. The authors’ pioneering explorations involving biomimicry are a must-read for any manager. It is bold, panoramic thinking at its best and a highly enjoyable read as well.
-- Gerald Zaltman, Harvard Business School, and Olson Zaltman, Author of On Not Knowing: The Art of An Open Mind and How Customers Think
In today's world, where sustainability plays a vital strategic role, nature presents a treasure trove of lessons for the inquisitive learner. This captivating book extends an invitation to explore and implement the simple yet profound principles observed in nature for both survival and success.
-- Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Best Selling Author -- Three Box Solution
This book provides in-depth insights into how bioinspired design combined with AI can help us address complex challenges faced by businesses, governments, markets, cities, and society. Never more needed and very timely, an extremely valuable read for anyone involved in making strategic design decisions for organizations.
-- Rachel Cooper OBE, Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy, Lancaster University
Mankind has not yet even skimmed the surface of the natural world’s multiple capabilities and ability to adapt. So many living things have innate capabilities that technology has yet to even understand, let alone replicate. Dan and Tojin have taken on the task of beginning to harness the principles found in nature and applying them to the design of human systems, in the context of efficiency, resilience, prominence, and design heuristics. This ambitious book seeks to develop critical implications of biomimicry for technological innovation, artificial intelligence, idea generation, scenario planning, and organizational constraints. The result is a delightful book that triggers one’s imagination on the possibilities for true nature-driven innovation.
-- Robert Handfield, PhD, Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management, North Carolina State University
Organizations around the world are primarily concerned with efficiency improvement. The authors of this book propose that there are two other critical survivability factors – resilience, and prominence, that firms may ignore to their peril. What makes survivability challenging is the complex interplay of these factors based on resources, environmental forces, and different types of observers such as predators, prey, and mates in the natural world, and competitors, rivals, and customers in business environments. A must-read for corporate honchos and emerging leaders alike!
-- Geetha Ramamoorthi, Managing Director, KBR India
There are books that inspire, and every decade or so, there comes a defining seminal work that offers a new approach to engineering solutions for practically any conceivable problem. Bioinspired Strategic Design is one of those pioneering efforts to understand, at a very fundamental level, how we can apply nature-inspired principles to our thought processes governing any meaningful understanding of issues and decision-making. Every design school should have this as mandatory reading; it should be part of Design 101. Frankly, this is a must-read for business school and entrepreneurship students just as much. Any innovator can benefit immensely from the framework Daniel and Tojin have meticulously built.
-- Vineet C. Nambiar, Founder, Mavericks365 & Director, Global Innovation Center
You know those wise people, who seem to answer any question with an insightful story and a powerful example? With this book as your guide, you will be one of those people when it comes to the field of bioinspiration. Filled to the brim with both useful language to use, real-world examples, and inspiring stories, this is one of those books that make you go from outsider to insider in the span of a few hours. Brilliant piece of writing!
-- Claus Raasted, Director at The College of Extraordinary Experiences, External Advisor at McKinsey & Company
The old mechanic machine-type model of organizations and the rigid management practices of the industrial age have run their course. Now, a new model is emerging that we call Management 2.0 animated by an organic perspective of organizations and management. I am proud that a former winner of the Peter Drucker Challenge Essay contest using nature-inspired principles lays the foundation for new innovative and creative management practices for the 21st century.
-- Richard Straub, Founder & President, Global Peter Drucker ForumThe book provides a novel look at how businesses can learn from living organisms to guide their strategic decision-making. Nature has much to teach us, and this book makes an effort to uncover some of the mysteries that it holds about survival and applies them to human organizations.
-- Soumitra Dutta, Dean, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Former Founding Dean, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
Innovation often leads us to seek out the next cutting-edge breakthrough and search for new sources of knowledge. However, it is worth considering that even today, our most profound source of inventive potential might be found in an ancient fount of inspiration: the natural world. In this fascinating book, Dan and Tojin take the reader on an exploratory expedition to uncover nature’s creative principles. At the end of the book, one cannot escape the sense that the journey (and the fun) has just begun.
-- Jaideep Prabhu, Professor of Marketing & Nehru Professor of Indian Business, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Nature has always been a great source of inspiration for Product Design. The authors have demonstrated how the ERP framework can help us unleash creative potential in a systematic manner. With generative AI, this opportunity is set to explode and bring about a paradigm shift in divergent thinking. The amalgamation of human creativity with generative AI will take innovations to a new level. A great book to stimulate our thought process in this direction.
-- Revathi Kant, Chief Design Officer, Titan Company
The marvels of nature can teach us so much! Nature optimized its ecosystems and has amazing lessons in areas such as energy efficiency, adaptability, and resilience. Daniel Finkenstadt and Tojin Eapen did an excellent job taking the reader through bioinspired strategic design principles. I recommend anyone involved in innovation and design to read this book, it has many eye-opening learnings.
-- Professor Jochen Wirtz, Vice Dean MBA Programmes, National University of Singapore.
This book showcases how the profound lessons of nature are interwoven with human organizations and how this unlocks innovative solutions to build a sustainable and adaptable future for our human systems. By exploring the concept of bioinspiration, the book embarks on a journey to unravel the secrets of survival and innovation embedded in the adaptations of living organisms.
-- Roseline ILORI, Founder/CEO, Bridge57 Solutions Limited
The book serves as a fantastic reminder that nature offers the most valuable insights and guidance for navigating our planet. Furthermore, it emphasizes that humans can never surpass nature's power, and we should constantly strive to learn and explore. The book also highlights that trade-offs always exist, and nature chooses the optimal combination based on the changing environment. The presence of comprehensive and perceptive examples of innovative solutions for a sustainable and resilient future helps skeptics realize that their knowledge is nearly futile if it contradicts the principles embraced by nature.
-- Thomas Kuruvilla, Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little Middle East and India, Member of the Global Board of Arthur D. Little, Adjunct Faculty, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
This remarkable book is your go-to manual for innovation and product design in the AI era. The authors transform years of research into practical advice, peppered with numerous examples. In the AI era, don't merely get by—flourish!”
-- J. Scott Christianson, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Trulaske College of Business at University of MissouriI listened to Tojin Eapen on a global webinar and later read his book. This is not another trivial book on AI. It is a door opener for people who really want to understand how such a powerful tool can enhance what human creativity can achieve. I've been a creative person my entire life, and while I completely believe in the power of the human brain to generate amazing things, AI and Bioinspired Strategic Design provide a completely new angle and perspective on innovation and mind exploration. Amazing stuff.
-- Ilan Geva, President, Ilan Geva & Friends, Sr. Strategy Director and head of US office, Vmarsh Healthcare
Learning from nature is an interesting activity. The authors Tojin and Daniel have taken this learning several notches up from merely being "interesting". This book gives a structured way of looking at matters most important for business success, like survival, resilience, design, ideation, etc. through the eyes of nature. The academic rigor that is evident through the reliable sources referred to in the book adds to the credibility of the topics. Businesses will do well to implement the concepts discussed in the book.
-- Madana Kumar, PhD, Vice President and Global Head – Leadership Development, UST Global, Servant Leadership Evangelist and Author of Not-So-With-YOUThe idea of drawing parallels from nature and applying those to the business world has always fascinated me. I have known Tojin as a classmate and have recently been following his work. Always impressive! One of the things that stood out for me was the role of reduced prominence in the survivability of a predator - pretty much how we describe startups in ‘stealth mode’. This was not only an insightful read, but also highly enjoyable.
-- Koreel Lahiri, Investment Director - Asia, MDIF
As a keen observer of organizations and how they thrive, survive, or fail, I have been keen to understand the underlying causes. This book provides an easily readable explanation and excellent analysis of how external and internal factors affect the future of organizations. CEOs of mature organizations and startups alike could take many lessons from the book to help build prominent organizations by improving efficiency and resilience.
-- Nirmal N. R., CEO, 3-Wheeler Business, Greaves Electric Mobility
An indispensable guide for leveraging biology's ancient wisdom to foster innovation in organizations.
-- Brendan O'Toole, VP Product, Copeland
It is a very interesting, inspiring, and insightful book for readers looking for fresh ideas and newer directions. Bioinspired Strategic Design provides novel insights on adaptability and bio-inspired creativity. It educates us that there is so much to learn from nature around us along with the power of artificial intelligence in strategic decision-making. Kudos to the authors Dan Finkenstadt and Tojin Eapen for penning this masterpiece!
-- Prof. Neeraj Pandey, Professor & Associate Dean - Placement and Branding, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Mumbai
Everything in our life is nature's design. In our rapidly changing world, Bioinspired Strategic Design offers a fresh perspective on survivability, resilience, creativity, and innovation. Finkenstadt and Eapen skillfully illustrate how individuals, firms, countries, and society at large can leverage the processes found in nature to address challenges presented by our dynamic environment. They explore various efficiency and resilience mechanisms observed in living organisms and organizations, as well as provide bioinspired strategies for product ideation in new product development. Finkenstadt and Eapen present a comprehensive view of how individuals and organizations can draw upon the fundamental principles observed in nature to contribute to making the world a better place.
-- Kiran Pedada, Assistant Professor of Marketing and F.Ross Johnson Fellow, University of Manitoba, Visiting Faculty, Indian School of Business
-- Arun Pereira, Global Facilitator, AACSB International, Emeritus Faculty, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University, Author of Papal Reich and The Culturally Customized Website.
Bioinspired Strategic Design is indeed an inspiring book that offers a new lens to look at and find solutions from the nature to challenges and opportunities that organizations face. This is a guide to explore and find practical solutions as it is well researched and comprehensive. The authors bring fresh air to the cluttered array of ‘to-do’ books.
-- Kavil Ramachandran, Professor of Family Business and Entrepreneurship, Senior Advisor, Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise, Indian School of BusinessAt the outset, I would like to congratulate Dan & Tojin for their out-of-the-box approach on identifying potential biomimetic solutions as inspiration for solving human/organization problems. Through the concept of studying adaptations and mechanisms found in living systems, how complex challenges faced by all human systems (governments, organizations, communities & so on.) can be addressed through bioinspired feasible & viable solutions, is interesting as well as deeply engaging. Several analogs between the way birds & animals are biologically designed may present new nature-inspired models for organizations to design their best strategic turnaround plans! I doubt if these deeper insights were ever touched upon by authors in the past & in that sense, it opens an absolutely new sphere to investigate & benefit from. I strongly recommend this book for all business leaders, emerging & mature, to discover an entirely new dimension while exploring innovative solutions to business, society & environmental challenges, leaving behind an enjoyable experience.
-- Avinash Sankhe, Director, Shared Services Center at Bureau Veritas.
This book offers a groundbreaking perspective on survival strategies for startups and organizations in challenging settings. Focusing on the ERP model, the book delves into nature’s critical balance between efficiency and resilience, drawing parallels with startups, military crafts, and supply chains. The authors skillfully apply nature's adaptability to business survival, presenting a comprehensive framework for navigating hostile environments. This book is an essential read for entrepreneurs, leaders, and strategists seeking innovative approaches to ensure their ventures thrive amidst adversity.
-- Somnath Datta, Director, Customer Excellence, Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Johnson & Johnson)Bioinspired Strategic Design masterfully bridges the gap between the age-old wisdom of nature and the modern challenges faced by organizations. Through a harmonious blend of biological principles and innovative strategies, Finkenstadt and Eapen illuminate a path for businesses to navigate the turbulent waters of the contemporary world. Drawing inspiration from nature's myriad solutions, this book doesn't just advocate for innovation – it embodies it. For those yearning for a fresh perspective that melds the organic with the strategic, this is your compass.
-- Haresh Raval, Board Member, Human Health Project, Global VP of Product, Newegg
