Emergent strategy development for organizations

The professional field of strategic management distinguishes several different schools, among them the prescriptive and emergent approaches (Lynch, 2000). Although theorists distinguish different approaches (e.g., Idenburg, 1993; Mintzberg, 1987), in order to look more closely at emergence in strategic processes we highlight the distinctions between the rational planning and emergent schools, particularly in regard to issues of language and time. Our article proceeds as follows. We briefly review the literature of emergent strategy and the Delphic oracle, with particular attention to the ways in which the latter reflects current thinking about ambiguity, complexity, emergence, and strategy. We then take a closer look at the function of different symbolic and temporal approaches to the learning requirements of emergent strategy, and we propose that oracle can be usefully seen as a type of learning. Based on this strategic approach to learning and emergence, we make a series of propositions for future research

Emergent strategy development, abduction, and pragmatism : new lessons for corporations

This paper proceeds from the widespread assumption - apparently, a truism - that the longevity of corporations is very much beholden to the success in their processes of strategic planning and the manner in which they learn from, and adapt to, those processes. The predominant strategic paradigm used in corporations, that of the rational planning school, assumes that language is transparent and time is linear. Such assumptions don't hold up in a complex world. Emergent strategy [8,50,63] has the potential to address the current challenges of organizations by shifting the language and talk about strategizing. Rather than talk about the challenges faced by top managers [14,25], emergent strategizing, for example, talks of "communicative interaction" and "focusing attention on what [is] going on now" [64, p. 158]. Mintzberg's disdain for the divination techniques of the Delphi Oracle [51, p. 238] notwithstanding, we suggest that characteristics of the Delphic Oracle [52] mirror many of those of both emergence and strategy and, therefore, may offer insight into the effective development of emergent strategies at lower and middle levels of the organization. Our method for understanding emergence is abduction, as developed by Charles Franklin Peirce and the pragmatists. A playful reinterpretation of the Delphic Oracle can provide a way to imagine the roles of organizational actors in strategic emergence

Les métaux amorphes, une innovation de rupture dans le domaine des matériaux et de la fatigue

International audienceLes métaux amorphes, une innovation de rupture dans le domaine des matériaux et de la fatigue

Gap Junctional Blockade Stochastically Induces Different Species-Specific Head Anatomies in Genetically Wild-Type Girardia dorotocephala Flatworms

The shape of an animal body plan is constructed from protein components encoded by the genome. However, bioelectric networks composed of many cell types have their own intrinsic dynamics, and can drive distinct morphological outcomes during embryogenesis and regeneration. Planarian flatworms are a popular system for exploring body plan patterning due to their regenerative capacity, but despite considerable molecular information regarding stem cell differentiation and basic axial patterning, very little is known about how distinct head shapes are produced. Here, we show that after decapitation in G. dorotocephala, a transient perturbation of physiological connectivity among cells (using the gap junction blocker octanol) can result in regenerated heads with quite different shapes, stochastically matching other known species of planaria (S. mediterranea, D. japonica, and P. felina). We use morphometric analysis to quantify the ability of physiological network perturbations to induce different species-specific head shapes from the same genome. Moreover, we present a computational agent-based model of cell and physical dynamics during regeneration that quantitatively reproduces the observed shape changes. Morphological alterations induced in a genomically wild-type G. dorotocephala during regeneration include not only the shape of the head but also the morphology of the brain, the characteristic distribution of adult stem cells (neoblasts), and the bioelectric gradients of resting potential within the anterior tissues. Interestingly, the shape change is not permanent; after regeneration is complete, intact animals remodel back to G. dorotocephala-appropriate head shape within several weeks in a secondary phase of remodeling following initial complete regeneration. We present a conceptual model to guide future work to delineate the molecular mechanisms by which bioelectric networks stochastically select among a small set of discrete head morphologies. Taken together, these data and analyses shed light on important physiological modifiers of morphological information in dictating species-specific shape, and reveal them to be a novel instructive input into head patterning in regenerating planaria

Exploring the relationship between environmental drivers and the manifestation of fibropapillomatosis in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in eastern Brazil

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a disease characterized by epithelial tumors that can impede life-sustaining activities of sea turtles, especially green turtles (Chelonia mydas). FP is caused by a herpesvirus, but environmental factors are also thought to play a role in triggering FP tumor growth. In this study, we evaluate the epidemiology of FP tumors in green turtles along the coast of Espírito Santo, Brazil, a region where juvenile green turtles are known to aggregate with high FP prevalence. A dataset comprising 2024 beach-cast green turtles recorded through daily beach surveys on 400 km of coastline from 2018 to 2021 (inclusive) was evaluated. FP tumors were recorded in 40.9% of the individuals in this dataset, and presence of FP tumors was predicted by individual variables (presence of marine leeches, stranding code, curved carapace length, body mass-size residual) and characteristics of the stranding site (distance to nearest metallurgical plant, mean sea surface salinity (SSS), annual range of sea surface temperature (SST)). Additionally, a second dataset comprising detailed information about the size and anatomical distribution of tumors in 271 green turtles with FP from the same region was evaluated. Hierarchical clustering analysis revealed these turtles could be classified in three groups according to the anatomical distribution of their tumors, and in turn the group to which each turtle was assigned could be predicted by the study period (2010–2014 vs. 2018–2022) and by characteristics of the stranding/capture site (green turtle stranding density, mean sea surface chlorophyll-a concentration, mean SSS, mean SST, annual range of SST). These results corroborate that individual and environmental factors play a significant role driving FP epidemiology. Furthermore, the results suggest that rather than behaving as a single entity, FP may be seen as a mosaic of distinct anatomical patterns that are not necessarily driven by the same environmental factors

Novel HldE‑K Inhibitors Leading to Attenuated Gram Negative Bacterial Virulence

We report here the optimization of an HldE kinase inhibitor to low nanomolar potency, which resulted in the identification of the first reported compounds active on selected <i>E. coli</i> strains. One of the most interesting candidates, compound <b>86</b>, was shown to inhibit specifically bacterial LPS heptosylation on efflux pump deleted <i>E. coli</i> strains. This compound did not interfere with <i>E. coli</i> bacterial growth (MIC > 32 μg/mL) but sensitized this pathogen to hydrophobic antibiotics like macrolides normally inactive on Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, <b>86</b> could sensitize <i>E. coli</i> to serum complement killing. These results demonstrate that HldE kinase is a suitable target for drug discovery. They also pave the way toward novel possibilities of treating or preventing bloodstream infections caused by pathogenic Gram negative bacteria by inhibiting specific virulence factors