African wild dogs' dilemma
Have you got the African wild dogs' dilemma? The challenge of their survival has parallels with small business. What can we learn?
African wild dogs number between 3000 and 5000 through their natural habitats in Africa. Previously their declining numbers was thought to be due mainly to habitat degradation, human influence, disease and competition. It is now thought their social structure is the root cause of their predicted extinction.
In distinct contrast the spotted hyena is faced with similar pressures but is not declining in numbers. So what's the lesson for small business?
Being a smaller dog in stature, it has evolved to thrive at an optimum pack size (in contrast to the hyena). During the day adult animals will hunt and return food to the den where the juveniles remain usually protected by a 'babysitter'. It has been found that the lack of a babysitter increases the mortality rate of pups while smaller than optimum hunting pack sizes diminish returns of food to the den and increase the frequency of excursions. That's the dilemma!
If the pack sacrifices the hunting party size for babysitter less resources are obtained while if the babysitter accompanies the hunt more pups die. The minimum size of an adult pack has been found to be five and numbers above dramatically increase long-term survival.
So what's your ratio between hunters and babysitters? Do you have hungry technicians dependent on too few sales people? Do you have too many aggressive deal closers without the administrators to deliver the service? Are the hunters good at selecting the most rewarding prey or do they make frequent sales visits for little return!
Sometimes small is not best – and there are ways round the delicate balance.
Technology can help. More hunters can be sustained when the babysitter has been computerised.