How Companies Have Sex

We're witnessing today a blossoming of interest in organizational genetics, revealing itself in a fascination with business models, mutations, and combinations. Particularly in the hot zone of convergence -- computers, communications, and media - strategists are asking sexual questions: What sorts of DNA are more likely to succeed in the marketplace? If I crossbreed one company with another, what sort of offspring will develop?

The game today is managing organizational genetics and fostering safe and satisfying sex. That's why Eric Schmidt is thinking about how to become an effective organizational parent -- so he can raise his offspring to be thriving members of the new ecology of business.

James F. Moore (jim@geopartners.com), author of "The Death of Competition" (HarperBusiness, 1996 , is chairman of GeoPartners Research, Inc., a strategy-consulting and investment-advisory firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.