The Biology of Business

When we see someone succeed in business, we tend to ask how they made so much money. The question shows how used we are to measuring success in money — so much that we sometimes forget to ask what value that business creates for people’s lives and for society.

If we look at a business as a living organism, we see that it needs resources, labour and relationships with its environment in order to grow. Understanding the “biology of business” is therefore an exploration of how businesses are born, how they survive and how they change — and a question of what kind of growth allows both business and society to survive in the long run.

From barter to money

Economic activity is bound up with basic human needs: food, clothing, shelter and medicine. As people settled and divided their labour, exchanging produce became more important, eventually developing into trade and systems of money that grew more complex according to each society’s context.

Bartering goods for goods has its limits, because both parties must want what the other has at the same time. A chicken farmer may want rice, but the rice farmer may not want chicken. They also have to agree on how much rice one chicken is worth for both sides to be satisfied.

Money reduces these limits by acting as a medium of exchange. A seller can accept money and later use it to buy what they need. But money can only play this role when people collectively accept and trust its value.

As trade grew, accumulating capital, lending and investing for profit became more important. Money is therefore not just a tool for buying and selling; it is also tied to opportunities to access resources and to bargaining power in society.

Use value and exchange value

To understand business, we should separate two kinds of value: “use value” and “exchange value.”

Use value is the benefit something brings to life: food relieves hunger, a house gives shelter, and a tool makes work easier. Exchange value is what we must pay or receive when we trade it — which, in a money economy, usually shows up as a price.

Take a plot of land. It could be used to build a home, to farm or to open a business; its usefulness depends on who uses it and for what. Its market price, meanwhile, depends on location, market demand and other economic factors. An expensive plot of land is therefore not necessarily the one that best serves the buyer’s life.

The same goes for a house. To the people who live in it, a home may mean safety, memories and family bonds; to an investor, it may be an asset bought to sell on. The two kinds of value can coexist, but they can also clash when the pursuit of returns pushes prices beyond the reach of people who simply need somewhere to live.

Businesses therefore always face the question of how to earn revenue while meeting people’s needs. Focusing only on selling price and profit risks overlooking the benefit that products and services should bring to real life.

When money becomes power

We cannot eat money to survive, but we can use money to buy food. The power of money lies in its ability to turn into goods, services and opportunities.

People with more money usually have more choices — in education, housing, healthcare and investment. Money also brings more bargaining power, such as the ability to turn down unsuitable work or wait for a better opportunity. Meanwhile, people with financial constraints may have to accept unfavourable terms just to earn enough to live.

The relationship between employer and worker is one example. An employer may offer extra pay to get work done faster, but if the deadline exceeds what the worker can handle, the extra money may come at the cost of rest, health and quality of life.

Wages should never be a reason to overlook human limits. Any agreement to work should weigh pay, time, workload and fairness to everyone involved.

Money also carries meaning as status. We ask each other what we do and how much we earn, and sometimes use the answers to judge a person’s success. When income becomes the main yardstick, other values — responsibility, knowledge, generosity or contributing to the common good — risk being pushed aside.

Technology and the creation of demand

Businesses do not only respond to existing needs; they also help create new ones through products, services, marketing and technology.

Digital services show that business value does not have to lie in tangible things. Software and search help people work, learn and communicate more easily. Once these services become part of daily life, users may feel they cannot do without them.

Yet having many users does not guarantee that a business creates long-term benefit. If it chases usage and revenue without considering the consequences, it may encourage unnecessary consumption or excessive dependence on the service.

The key question, then, is not only what technology can do, but also what problem it solves, who benefits, and who bears the cost of that growth.

Businesses that grow with society

Profit is necessary for a business to survive, but success should not be measured by profit alone. A business that keeps growing depends on the trust of its customers, the abilities of its employees, resources, and a society that supports its operations.

Building a business for the long term should therefore start from the real benefit people receive. Does the product or service actually solve a problem? Do workers receive fair pay and decent working conditions? And how much of a burden do the operations place on society and the environment?

If we see a business as a living organism, it cannot be healthy by growing on its own, because it still depends on the ecosystem around it. Growth that destroys its resource base, exploits labour or erodes trust will eventually come back to threaten the business’s own survival.

Business success should therefore mean the ability to earn revenue while creating value — making people’s lives better and preserving the conditions that allow both business and society to endure.