Background Extinction
Normal competitive failure rate in markets - steady loss of companies over time due to competition, changing customer preferences, and market fluctuations.
Background extinction is the norm: species arise through speciation and disappear through extinction continuously. The average species lifespan is ~1-10 million years (varies by taxonomic group: mammals average ~1 million years, marine invertebrates ~10 million years). Background extinction rate is approximately 0.1-1 extinctions per million species per year - low but constant. Background extinctions result from ordinary selective pressures: competition (competitive exclusion), predation/disease, environmental change (gradual climate shifts, sea level changes, habitat loss), and stochastic events (small populations go extinct through random demographic fluctuations). Background extinction is density-dependent: rare species are more vulnerable than common species.
Business Application of Background Extinction
Normal competitive failure rate in markets - steady loss of companies over time due to competition, changing customer preferences, and market fluctuations. Not catastrophic but constant.