Identification of systemic correspondences

Systemic Biomimicry of Dinosaurs by Multinational Corporations (Part #5)

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If developed, as this argument suggests, the comparison between multinational corporations and dinosaurs could lead to suggestive identification of correspondences between particular types of dinosaur and particular types of multinational corporation. The argument of biomimicry would even suggest that some species of dinosaur were able to adapt to, and exploit, particular niches in ways which might offer inspiration to innovative multinational corporations in quest of their own survival. Again it should not be forgotten the frequency and ease with which animal-like attributes are associated with corporate bodies -- "rat", "wolf", "snake", etc. Admiration is attached to "tiger". Why not extend this ease of recognition to include Tyrannosaurus rex? Whether through the involvment of some in the arms industry or that of others in the manufacture of products dangerous to health, is it not appropriate to borrow the common description of dinosaurs as the "most efficient killing machines" that nature has developed?

Another approach might be to reverse engineer the organization of a multinational corporation -- as a system -- to determine to what dinosaur species it might best correspond.

The question is how to adapt understanding of  multinational corporation structure metaphorically in terms of "limbs" and the capacity to "move". These possibilities have been discussed separately with respect to the intergovernmental institutions of Europe -- in quest of strategic coherence (Animating the Representation of Europe: visualizing the coherence of international institutions using dynamic animal-like structures, 2004). That document offers early examples (and animations) based on the classic organization chart which effectively depicts divisions as distinct "limbs" and may well be understood as such by management (see Beyond impoverished metaphors, 2004). Budget lines also offer a lead to the operation of "muscles" (see Proposal for dynamic representation of institutional budget lines, 2004). The interactive animations presented were based on Sodaconstructor (last modified 2007) used by the web-based Sodaplay community.

Detection of  correspondences between particular dinosaur species (or genera) and a multinational corporation (specific or as a type) would then offer the charming possibility of making use of the above-mentioned dinosaur simulation skills -- perhaps embedding the logo of the multinational in question into the skin of the corresponding dinosaur as it roams the environment "preying" on different categories of consumer (perhaps suitably simulated as "browsers").

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