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Biomimetic Organisations: A Management Model that Learns from Nature

Author

Listed:
  • Edita Olaizola

    (People Plus! Profit, Pg. Baixador 17, 08195 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Rafael Morales-Sánchez

    (Department of Management and Marketing, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera de Utrera, km. 1, 41013 Seville, Spain)

  • Marcos Eguiguren Huerta

    (Department of Management, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal, 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
    Global Alliance for Banking on Values, Nieuweroordweg 1, P.O. Box 55, 3700 AB Zeist, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Since the end of the last century, different approaches for corporate management have been appearing that try to incorporate the social advances that are being produced and disseminated thanks to the greater capacity of communication available through social networks and other traditional avenues. Among the best known are Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, the Circular Economy, and Collaborative Economics. All of them add value to organisations, and all of them have a common characteristic: they are anthropocentric approaches. Our proposal goes a step further: we need a worldview that is capable of placing organisations in a position of continuous learning looking at nature, because it is the best way to integrate into it as a more ecosystem and thus achieve its flowering respecting the once to all the other subsystems that make up the planet: Organizational Biomimicry. This work compares the anthropocentric vision with the worldview at the same time that it offers a guide of the essential steps so that Organizational Biomimicry is the new model of corporate management.

Suggested Citation

  • Edita Olaizola & Rafael Morales-Sánchez & Marcos Eguiguren Huerta, 2020. "Biomimetic Organisations: A Management Model that Learns from Nature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:6:p:2329-:d:333362
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Semra Arslan Selçuk & Güneş Mutlu Avinç, 2021. "On Strengthening the Interest of Architecture Students in Bio-informed Solutions: A Systematic Approach for Learning from Nature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Cheffi, Walid & Kaleem Zahir-ul-Hassan, Muhammad & Omer Farooq, Muhammad & Baqrain, Abdelrahman & Mohamed Habib Mansour, Mourad, 2023. "Ethical leadership, management control systems and circular economy in SMEs in an emerging economy, the UAE," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

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