Corporate Strategy and Spatial Needs (1990-2000)

MBA Thesis Paper: Jonathan Drane MGSM (Macquarie Graduate Management School) 1992,  2000

Jonathan’s doctorate is a culmination of 23 years of research and a fascination with the  growth of cities. This started in 1990 with his Master of Business Administration thesis at MGSM (Macquarie University, Sydney) as ‘The relationship between corporate strategy and spatial needs’ which then morphed into the esoteric title ‘Growth and the Outer Shell’. The main emphasis in those days was on the ‘Corporate Machine’ and was inspired by the book ‘Corporation Man’ by Antony Jay ( Jay 1972).

Megacities International Conference, Hong Kong 2000
Corporation Man The Next 100 Years

Jonathan Drane
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
Macquarie University, Sydney Australia
8 February 2000

Introduction

In biology most growth models are based on a mechanism that reaches equilibrium. David Suzuki in
Earth Time (Suzuki 1998) notes however:

” When a species is introduced into a novel environment, it usually soon dies for lack of an appropriate habitat or the conditions necessary for survival. In those rare circumstances where a new arrival does find conditions conducive to growth, such as an “exotic” species may run amok in the absence of natural counter-balances.

As a species, human beings have had a similar impact. As we have spread and multiplied over the earth,we have gone from being creatures dependent on planetary forces over which we had little control or effect to being a superspecies with the capacity to alter, whether deliberately or unintentionally, the Earth’s biophysical features.”

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Drane 2000- Corporation Man The Next 100 Years