Secret Lives of Ants

2. Economies of Scale and Rational Business Management: From Joint Ventures to Multinational Enterprises

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Economies of Scale and Rational Business Management 2 from joint ventures to multinational enterprises People frequently compare ant colonies to factories because ants have developed elaborate divisions of labor in their colonies in order to maximize their profits, much like human industry has. However, unlike our companies, some of which go bankrupt at the slightest downturn in business conditions, ants are able to reinvest most of their profits to expand their facilities and build new factories. Industrial economists, specialists in a subset of microeconomics, examine companies’ investments of resources such as land, labor, and capital and how they use them to produce products and services. They also examine the decisions companies must make about how to maintain the balance between supply and demand, as well as which resources to invest in, and to what degree, to produce the right amount of product. Worker Ants Are Nothing but Investment The basis of the economics of ant factories is not different from that of human factories. Looking at ant colonies from an industrial economist’s point of view, the nest is territory or factory, the number of worker ants is the labor force, and a colony’s capital is the food the ants have gathered and stored. Ultimately, the products they are investing these resources into manufacturing are new generations of queen ants and reproductive males. Just as the companies who manufacture and sell the most products will control the greatest share of the market, the ant colonies that produce more queens and males than the colonies around them will likely be the most successful. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e c o n o m i e s o f s c a l e a n d r a t i o n a l b u s i n e s s m a n a g e m e n t 11 Even though worker ants are living, breathing organisms, from a strictly industrial economic point of view, they are essentially investments of capital to produce more queens and males. Worker ants serve the same function as the somatic cells that make up the bodies of living organisms, which are necessary to produce eggs and sperm, the reproductive cells. This is why ant colonies are sometimes called “superorganisms.” Even though they are collectives of many living, breathing organisms, each colony is organized for a single purpose, as is the body of a single multicellular organism. Viewed as a single organism, the queens and males function as reproductive organs, while the workers function as the many parts and organs of the body. When comparing ant economics and human economics, one of the most interesting phenomena in the ant world is related to one of the fundamental principles of economics—economies of scale. Just as companies that are the right size grow faster and are more efficient than companies that are too large or too small, research has shown that, in most cases, the most efficiently organized ant colonies are medium-sized. Small ant colonies frequently fail during their formative stage, just as newly founded small businesses frequently go bankrupt. Likewise, when ant colonies grow too large, communication breaks down and they can no longer react effectively to changes in their environment. These are just some of the many similarities we can see between ant society and human society. The Nuptial Flight The ant colony begins with the nuptial flight of virgin queens and males. On this special day, when the weather is warm and tranquil, the worker ants open the door to the nest and the maiden queens emerge. The queens meet the bachelor males from other colonies and hold their wedding ceremonies at the traditional rendezvous where generations of their grandmothers met their grooms—at the top of a hill or tall tree. After consummating her marriage, the wannabe queen breaks off her wings, which she will never need again, and finds a good spot to make her new home. Different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t h e e c o n o m i c s o f a n t s o c i e t y 12 species have different nesting habits, but most queens build their nests underground, in rotten trees or inside plant stems. The queens’ and males’ nuptial flight is the tensest and most exciting time in the ant calendar. On the day of the nuptial flight, the workers busily stream in and out of the nest while...