Co-Evolution Path Model (Cepm): Sustaining Enterprises as Complex Systems on the Edge of Chaos

The purpose of this paper is primarily theoretical – to propose and detail a model for system evolution, and show its derivation from the fields of enterprise architecture (EA), cybernetics and systems theory. Cybernetic thinking is used to develop the co-evolution path model (CePM) to explain how enterprises co-evolve with their environments. The model re-interprets Ashby’s law of requisite variety, Stafford Beer’s viable system model, and Conant and Ashby's theorem of the 'good regulator' to exemplify how various complexity management theories could be synthesized into a cybernetic theory of EA – informing management of mechanisms to maintain harmony between the evolution of the enterprise as a complex system and the evolution of its complex environment.