Interdependence and Co-evolution
Organizations can design analogous interdependence - not through manipulative lock-in but through genuine specialization creating joint value.
The best partnerships don't require trust - they require alignment so perfect that your success depends on your partner's flourishing.
Stable long-term mutualisms create interdependence where each partner's evolutionary fitness depends on the other's success, aligning selection pressures and reducing conflict.
Fig-fig wasp mutualisms demonstrate extreme interdependence: each fig species hosts a species-specific wasp that pollinates while laying eggs in flowers. Neither can reproduce without the other. Similarly, leaf-cutter ants and their cultivated fungi are obligately mutualistic - neither can survive without the other.
Co-evolution drives reciprocal evolutionary change where each partner adapts to the other, creating increasing specialization that makes partners less capable of surviving independently.
Business Application of Interdependence and Co-evolution
Organizations can design analogous interdependence - not through manipulative lock-in but through genuine specialization creating joint value. ASML's co-development of EUV mirror systems with Zeiss involved over €1 billion in joint investment creating technologies neither could have developed alone. Henkel's customized adhesives create switching costs for both parties.