Phenotypic Plasticity
Some organisms respond to cycles by adjusting their phenotype (observable characteristics) within their lifetime based on environmental cues.
Plasticity atrophies if unused. If your strategy never changes, your ability to change decays. Use it or lose it.
Some organisms respond to cycles by adjusting their phenotype (observable characteristics) within their lifetime based on environmental cues. The water flea (Daphnia) detects chemical cues from predators and develops defensive spines and helmets within a single generation. When predators are absent, it allocates resources to reproduction instead. Plants show extensive plasticity: trees produce thick, small leaves in full sun and thin, large leaves in shade on the same individual; plants allocate more biomass to roots during drought and more to shoots during wet periods. Plasticity allows individuals to track environmental cycles without evolutionary lag but requires sensing mechanisms and developmental flexibility that have costs.
Business Application of Phenotypic Plasticity
Organizations can build flexibility to adjust strategy based on environmental signals - scaling different capabilities up or down as conditions change, rather than committing permanently to one configuration.
Phenotypic Plasticity Appears in 3 Chapters
Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to adjust observable characteristics within their lifetime based on environmental cues, tracking cycles without evolutionary lag.
Plasticity in climate adaptation →Daphnia's predator-induced helmet demonstrates how environmental signals trigger gene regulation changes, producing different phenotypes from identical genotypes.
Environmental sensing and plasticity →Phenotypic plasticity enables same core DNA to express radically different forms based on market conditions - Nintendo's strategic evolution demonstrates this.
Plasticity in organizational strategy →