Island Biogeography
Geographic or technological isolation creates 'island' markets with unique evolution.
Large, initially isolated markets develop unique capabilities. Once developed, these capabilities persist even after isolation decreases.
Islands represent ~1/6 of Earth's land area but contain outsized biological diversity. Two factors drive this: size and isolation. Size determines carrying capacity - larger islands support more species. Isolation determines colonization - distant islands receive fewer colonizers but develop unique evolutionary paths.
Madagascar (large, moderately isolated): 88% endemic species. Hawaii (very isolated): extreme evolutionary divergence. Guam (small, isolated): ecosystem collapsed when brown tree snakes arrived - 10 of 12 native bird species went extinct.
Business Application of Island Biogeography
Geographic or technological isolation creates 'island' markets with unique evolution. Shenzhen (large, initially isolated) developed hardware iteration speed unavailable elsewhere. Singapore and Estonia (small, isolated) enabled regulatory experimentation impossible in larger markets. Small, isolated markets enable experimentation; large, connected markets enable scale.