An Enterprise cannot exist without its environment. It is part of an ecosystem. It requires things from its surroundings to survive. These include capital, resources, skills, customers, services. It produces things that are absorbed into the environment. Hopefully these are positive, such as desired products and services which enhance the lives of those around them. Some may be negative, such as pollution, depletion of irreplaceable resources, or impoverishment of people or other enterprises.

A healthy enterprise has systems in balance, which allow it to function well, to grow and to benefit those it touches: staff, customers, partners, society. Since many of the inputs it depends upon require the willing cooperation of other parties (funding from clients, services from providers, sanction to operate from society) it is vital that the outputs produced are positive ones and that negative consequences are minimised. An organism that pollutes its environment will suffer.

Shouldn’t business architecture start with understanding where we live?