「釋義」

共生一詞在英文或是希臘文字面意義就是“共同”和“生活”，是兩生物體之間生活在一起的交互作用。

共生是一個(gè)生物概念，可以粗略地定義為生物之間的伙伴關(guān)系。共生在數(shù)十億年來(lái)一直幫助生物進(jìn)行創(chuàng)新并擴(kuò)展到新的生態(tài)位置。共生使生物能夠抵御天敵，吸引獵物進(jìn)入口中，以及在不存在陽(yáng)光的環(huán)境產(chǎn)生能量等。地球上的每個(gè)生物都與其他生物有許多共生關(guān)系。

在商業(yè)中，共生也是一種強(qiáng)大的力量。

「應(yīng)用場(chǎng)景」

忘記交換條件。

Forget quid pro quo.

有一段時(shí)間，生態(tài)學(xué)界盛行一種芝加哥經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院的心態(tài)。人們一直在尋找成本效益函數(shù)，因?yàn)檫@些函數(shù)支配著自然共生合作關(guān)系。問(wèn)題是這些函數(shù)并不存在。共生合作關(guān)系之所以發(fā)生，是因?yàn)槟芙鉀Q問(wèn)題，而不是因?yàn)閷?shí)現(xiàn)了某種帕累托最優(yōu)分配。

For a while in ecology, a sort of Chicago School of Economics mentality prevailed, and there was a near-constant search to identify the cost-benefit functions that supposedly govern natural symbiotic partnerships. The problem is, those functions don’t exist. Symbiotic partnerships occur because they solve problems, not because some Pareto optimal resolution has been achieved.

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有時(shí)，合作關(guān)系中的一方獲得了巨大的利益，而另一方卻幾乎沒(méi)有受益。有時(shí)一方放棄了很多，以便能夠適應(yīng)困難的環(huán)境。

Sometimes one side of the partnership benefits enormously while the other barely benefits, and sometimes one side gives up an awful lot in order to be able to adapt to difficult circumstances.

當(dāng)Dr Pepper Snapple集團(tuán)想要接觸到一個(gè)龐大但棘手的人群（千禧一代）時(shí)，它與Viacom（千禧一代熟悉的MTV的母公司）建立了一種新穎的共生關(guān)系。為了吸引MTV，Dr Pepper提出了不同尋常的提議：讓MTV選擇它想推廣的任何鮮為人知的Dr Pepper品牌，并提供該品牌的Viacom股權(quán)。最后，MTV幫助Dr Pepper將一款名為Sun Drop的三線產(chǎn)品打造成風(fēng)靡全國(guó)的產(chǎn)品，并讓自己成為任何急于獲得千禧一代關(guān)注的品牌的首選合作方。

When Dr Pepper Snapple Group wanted to reach a huge but tricky demographic — the Millennials — it developed a novel symbiosis with Viacom, the parent company of Millennial-tuned MTV. To draw MTV in, Dr Pepper made the unusual offer to let MTV choose any lesser-known Dr Pepper brand it wanted to market and offer Viacom equity in that brand. In the end, MTV helped Dr Pepper turn a third-tier product called Sun Drop into a national player, and gave itself credibility as the go-to marketer for any brand — no matter how staid — desperate for Millennial attention.

無(wú)法確定哪一方在這段關(guān)系中取得了最好的結(jié)局，這也沒(méi)關(guān)系。如果任何一方由于共生而可以做得更好，那么合作就很有意義。

It’s impossible to say which side got the best end of this relationship, and it doesn’t matter — if either side can do just a little better as a result of a symbiosis, it makes sense to partner up.

《To Overcome Your Company’s Limits, Look to Symbiosis》

拉菲·薩加林（Rafe Sagarin）丨文

馬冰侖?丨編輯?