Normally, we think about businesses as a mere collection of people working together. But, organizations also collectively act as a unit, facing the needs of survival and competing with others for resources. To that end, could we think about corporations and organizations as a unique sort of living, breathing species onto itself?

This talk explores the latest research in the field of “corporate zoology,” which brings evolutionary theory and ecological science to better understand how businesses evolve and interact with one another. We’ll delve into efforts by corporate naturalists to understand how different businesses evolve adaptations over time in the form of departments, professionalization, and the pattern of investment. It will also explore the insights emerging from the assembly of a comprehensive “animal kingdom” classification for businesses.

It’s going to be Jacques Cousteau meets the Wall Street Journal. Dawkins meets Microsoft. Darwin meets Enron. It’s going to be awesome.