It is the genetic code that drives culture. People try to change culture but it is in fact the genetic code that needs to change.

The genetic code shapes corporate culture at the most basic level.The genetic code determines how individuals make decisions & how they work together.

The genetic code is made of two parts:

1. The decision architecture: This is the company’s framework for what decisions get made & how they are made; what information is selected, & what analytical tools are used; how that information is structured & discussed; and what types of judgements are given the most weight. Just as each gene has its unique architecture for producing specific proteins, each leader has its own decision architecture. No two leaders think the same way, search the same data in the same sequence, rearrange the data in the same logic, or give them the same weights. No two leaders look at the external world in the same way as they search through the  bundles of confusions & contradictions for avenues of opportunity.Each leader has an inherent methodology of asking questions, receiving data, filtering them, and rearranging them.

The decision architecture of a meeting includes the items it deals with, resolves or postpones, & the content & organisation of its dialogue.

2. The social architecture: This is a product of how people react to each other: how well or poorly they listen to each other, support each other, and respect each other; how they surface conflicts & how they resolve them. It absolutely influences the outcomes of decisions. You can see it clearly by watching a meeting, the most basic unit of corporate existence, & mapping what goes on behind the scenes before & after.

Jack Welsh’s genetic re-engineering of GE began with meetings. His new rule was: No rehearsed or scripted speeches; only candor & uninhibited dialogue where intellectual honesty rules. Wrestle problems to the ground, get into the mud, think the business through from a variety of angles. Participants in the meeting are not there for control purposes; they are there to generate ideas.

The decision & social architecture combine to become the operating mechanisms. They are where the rubber meets the road:

• Any major decision that requires tradeoffs of judgement among two or more people is produced by an operating mechanism, whether it is formal or informal.
• Operating mechanisms are the primary instruments for driving the genetic code deep into the organisation. They serve as training, coaching & feedback systems that constantly shape & reinforce the leadership’s point of view.

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They have caught on partly because many websites do not look good on phones’ tiny screens. Apps do a much better job of making the best of the space available. Using them is intuitive, by & large. Many are free; most others cost about one US dollar.

Another reason why apps have proved popular is that, unlike websites, they do not need a constant connection to the internet. Instead, they are stored in mobile gadgets’ silicon memories & refreshed when a new connection is available. This also explains why they launch so much faster than software on PCs.

Today, there are more than 4,25,000 apps in Apple’s on-line store & more than 2,50,000 on Google’s Android Market. But a recent survey showed that 10 most popular apps accounted for 43% of usage & the top 50 for a whopping 61%.

I have on my Apple I-phone a few apps that are particularly useful: the price of a few stocks; the weather report of the cities that I am interested in & a few more. These apps give instant information without having to log on to a website. The information is available in about 5-10 seconds & is neatly formatted.

The popular apps are : Weather, Facebook, Google Maps, Games, Music.

The online stores offering Apps are: Apple, Android Market, GetJar, MobiHand, PocketGear, Mobango etc.

Vertical integration is the addition of businesses that do things coming either just before the  company’s existing processes, or just after. For example, were a car manufacturer to open a steel plant, it would be a case of  “backward vertical integration.” Were it to buy a chain of car retailers, it would be a case of “forward vertical integration”.

Were the car manufacturer to start making trucks it would be a case of horizontal integration.

All types of integration involve both costs & benefits. Horizontal integration can often seem to offer economies of scale, from say, bulk buying of components & raw materials. Vertical integration offers greater control over the firm’s inputs or outputs. Predicting what these costs & benefits might be is never easy. One crucial calculation should always  be: what is the danger of disintegration should the integration not work?