The Economics of Biodiversity
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Introduction
In this module, we will discuss the parallels between the natural world and the business world. It is possible to identify comparable patterns in adaptation, demand, supply, and extinction between these two worlds. For instance, as a species undergoes many challenges as it survives in the world, so does a business tussle to be successful in their world as well. When the environment has limited resources, it leads to businesses and organisms to compete for survival. The “survival for the fittest” comes into play as those that can be proficient in production will indeed be successful, and those that cannot achieve will not succeed. We are now going to look at the role the principle of economics play in determining the roles the costs will participate in businesses’ success in their marketplaces and animals in the wild.
Symbiotic Relationship between Gelada monkeys and Ethiopian Wolves
The Gelada monkeys and the Ethiopian wolves have a mutualistic symbiotic relationship, and this is because both the species benefit positively from it.
Short and long term benefits
Short time benefits
The Gelada monkey’s infants have been noted not to flee Ethiopian wolves’ presence even though these wolves can feed on them. This shows us that the monkeys help the wolves get their food; in exchange for their young being spared, the monkeys also profit. The monkeys also get another benefit from this relationship (Luntz, 2015). The rodents offer competition for the monkey’s main source of food, and so when the wolves feed on them, their numbers decrease, and the monkeys lose the competition. The wolves feed on small rodents, and the rodents can escape when they see the wolves, but they will not do the same when the monkey is around. The monkeys act as a tray for the rodents.
Long time benefits
The Ethiopian wolves are very rare, and their numbers keep decreasing. They are only a few hundred left Ethiopian wolves in the world (Luntz, 2015). These wolves are on the brink of extinction, and they only survive because of their mutualistic relationship with the Gelada monkeys.
The Costs the Species had to pay for the Mutual Relationship.
The Ethiopian wolves have to harbor their need for eating the infants of the Gelada monkeys, although they are a perfect food source for them and their survival. On the other hand, the monkeys have to trust the wolves not to eat their young to remove their competition.
Possibility of change in relationship
When the environment changes and the rodents do not graze near the monkeys anymore, their numbers are no longer satisfying food for the wolves (Luntz, 2015). The wolves will likely turn on the monkey’s infants as their source of food.
Tower Records
Long-term Costs associated with the Business
Tower Records was a legendary music production house. It closed in 2006 due to bankruptcy. The long-time costs of running this business include the retail stores, the product tower records sells, and the employees.
Competitors
The record’s competitors were the other big-box outlets such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Target.
Factors that contributed to shutting down
One of the biggest causes for the bankruptcy and finally shut down the Tower Record’s business is the program they implemented called Naptser (Tsioulcas, 2015). This program permitted the customers to download music from their website for free. The business close is due to the big-box stores that started selling their CDs at a larger discount than Tower Records.
Would adopting a Mutual Beneficial Relationship benefit the Company?
In my opinion, adopting a mutually beneficial relationship would not have been successful for Tower Records. When this company was running, technology was making big evolutions in the sense that people no longer preferred purchasing CDs. Still, they bought their music online (Tsioulcas, 2015. For Tower Records to be successful, they would have to buy a company that sold their music digitally or digital themselves.
Conclusion
The symbiotic relationship between the Gelada monkeys and the Ethiopian wolves is unusual because wild, mutually beneficial relationships are rare. This relationship has managed to save the Ethiopian wolves from extinction, and thus it has become a very important relationship. When it comes to Tower Records, their decision to sell their music for free was the root cause of their demise. In business, nothing is for free. Profits have to be made, and the capital returned.
Reference
Luntz, S. (2015, June 23). Symbiotic Partnership Between Monkeys and Wolves Discovered.IFLScience.Retrieved from-wolf-symbiosis/
Tsioulcas, A. (2015, October 20). The Life And Death of Tower Records, Revisited. Retrieved from-of-tower-records-revisited