Neutral Theory
Most organizational variations may be effectively neutral - neither helping nor harming performance.
Motoo Kimura's neutral theory (1968) proposed that most mutations at the molecular level are selectively neutral - they have no effect on fitness. These mutations arise randomly, and their fate is determined entirely by genetic drift. A neutral mutation has fixation probability equal to its initial frequency: 1/(2Ne) for a new mutation.
The rate of neutral substitution equals the mutation rate (μ), independent of population size. This explains the molecular clock: neutral mutations accumulate at a rate determined by mutation rate, which is roughly constant across species.
Business Application of Neutral Theory
Most organizational variations may be effectively neutral - neither helping nor harming performance. Their persistence depends on random sampling rather than merit, explaining why different companies can succeed with very different approaches to the same problems.
Discovery
Motoo Kimura (1968)
Demonstrated that most molecular evolution is driven by drift of neutral mutations, not natural selection