ABSTRACT
Energy is where it all began—at the Big Bang beginning of our Universe 13.75 billion years ago. Energy is a remnant of that initial, primordial explosive outburst—an energy constant that pervades everything that presently exists. Energy is the most basal, primal component of the Universe. Thermodynamics is the physicist’s way of talking about energy and its movement. Energy from its very first moments of existence in the Big Bang was unevenly distributed in the emerging Universe, thus causing energy to expand, move, flow, and to evolve ever since. Knowing how—as well as why—energy evolves is the key that unlocks many doors in the modern corporation, revealing the firm’s basic functions, goals, strategies, and decision-making apparatus—and even telling a bit about a company’s chances of having a long life. The same principle—superior efficiency in promoting energy flows—applies to many human activities. Energy evolution poses a profound dilemma for the modern business corporation.
