PART II: ORGANISM AND ORGANIZATION

Chapter 8: Form and Function

1. A huge multinational corporation is a confederacy of thousands of specialized "work cells." As in nature, all the critical life-giving functions take place inside individual cells, where people use knowledge to transform resources into goods and services.

2. In nature, organisms convert genetic information into tissues. In the economy, organizations turn technological information into products. Since both information realms are constrained by limited resources, they evolved similar ways of efficiently turning resources into more information.

3. All plant and animal tissues use five organelles, one each for information processing (nucleus), material preparation (lysosome), component assembly (ribosome), protein packaging (Golgi), and energy release (mitochondria).

4. Because all cells are built along the same lines and work in the same way, it is hard to imagine how they form such an incredibly diverse array of organisms.

5. In the human body, one set of DNA generates roughly 180 different cell types. The designs for all 180 cell types are inscribed in the genetic code carried by every cell.

6. By commanding the production of different proteins and mixed organelles in various cells, DNA reshapes life's standard cell into structures of awesome complexity. But beneath the rampant diversity, the basic structures and the production processs of every cell are the same.

7. These principles of form and function apply to economic organizations. Underlying the complexity, there is a universal pattern of organization.

8. The entire global economy is comprised of work cells and organizations engaged in the interdependent production and exchange of products. Regardless of size or level of technological sophistication, all organizations cope with essentially the same tasks that face a single living cell.

9. Encoded information is developed and preserved in DNA or cellular blueprints. Copies are shipped to ribosomes or assembly sites. After raw materials are prepared, components are reassembled in new configurations.

10. In a series of finishing steps, these objects are packaged into deliverable products. From protein to microprocessor, the essentials of organic and economic production are the same.