critique examination of the living company by Arie De Geus
Introduction In the living company, Arie De Geus explores various issues in order to identify the organisational factors that could help explain the reasons why some organisations can achieve longetivity. ... Arie De Geus worked for the Royal/Dutch Shell for about 40 years were he draws extensively on his personal experiences in writing this book. ... In the living company, the author changed his focus to studying corporate longetivity. ... Through his personal experience, the author offers new ideas and solutions on how a company can stay alive in a period of great change, irrespective of the type of change (Johnson: 1997). ... Third, the book will be analyzed with focus on the methodological critique of the qualitative methods adopted and finally, a conclusion will be drawn. Methodology The Living Company is based on two hypotheses: that the company is living being and the decisions for action made by this living being result from a leaning process. In carrying out his research, Arie De Geus draws largely on his personal experiences while working for Royal/Dutch Shell for forty years. ... The first part is termed ‘learning’; De Geus explains the idea of a learning company with sensitivity to its environment (pp. ... In part two, he describes the persona (identity) of a living company. De Geus explains here that living companies acquire and develop their own person (identity). ... In this part, he also asks the question whether a company is managing for profit or for longetivity and if there is a choice. In asking this question, he defines two kinds of companies, first the (puddle) company which simply operates for profit and second, the (river) company which is organized around the purpose of perpetuating itself as an ongoing community, (pp. ... In explaining the ecology in organisations, De Geus outlines flocking in organisations, tolerance and the corporate immune system as the factors of ecology in organisations. He explains here that tolerance and learning create the necessity for longetivity and survival of a company (pp. ... In part four, the author offers explanations into the evolution of a company’s development. ... Aims and Objectives In the living company, the author’s main objective was to examine the question of corporate longetivity, (pp. ... De Geus’ main aim was to find out whether long lived companies that have been successful survivors have any common characteristics which could explain why they were successful. ... The book also aims at providing a valuable resource for further insight and understanding of how organisations survive, learn and flourish, (Coughlan: 1997) Analysis The forward of this book written by Peter Senge gave an insight into the basic approach of Arie De Geus in the study. At the heart of this book is a simple question with sweeping implications: what if we thought about a company as a living being? ... 2) De Geus assets that a company should be viewed as a living being, i. ... His contention is that companies are living entities that can survive and thrive for centuries if they focus on several aspects of their character and operations, (Werff, 1999:2) However, according to Senge (pp.