Communication networks are prevalent in both natural and artificial systems, enabling information and resource exchanges amongst system parts. In most systems, the network topology influences system performance, which, in turn, reshapes the network topology; hence creating one or several feedback cycles. Understanding how such system growth and restructuring processes function becomes critical in today's increasingly connected world. This paper describes a generic model of feedback-based growth and adaptation for systems with tree-like control topologies. Inspired by plant vascular morphogensis, the model is transferred here for studying the development and adaptation behaviour of business organisations, operating in fluctuating economic environments. Experimental results show the impact that various degrees of internal competition have on overall business growth, productivity and reactivity to changing business landscapes. The preliminary findings presented seem to fit existing economic studies on related topics. The proposed model offers a solid basis for studying morphogenetic processes and associated performance indicators, applied to tree-shaped business organisations, and transferable to further domains.

Complex organisms, such as multi-cellular ones, have neither emerged spontaneously, nor evolved directly, from a disorganised mass of quarks. Stable intermediary sub-systems, like atoms and uni-cellular organisms, had to occur first and serve as reusable blocks for more complex systems to build upon. The occurrence of structured systems, featuring internal diversity , from uniform self-adaptive sub-systems is a key phenomenon to study in this context. We believe this phenomenon relies on the interactions among self-adaptive sub-systems, both at the micro -level (directly between sub-systems) but most importantly via macro -levels (indirectly via aggregate information and control from/to all sub-systems). To study this, we have developed a hierarchical control simulator based on self-adaptive cellular automata (CA). This paper presents our Holonic Cellular Automata (HCA) simulator, and the preliminary results showing the occurrence of structure / diversity from micro-macro feedback loops among self-adaptive CAs starting in the same states. This provides a promising basis for further investigations into the range of possibilities concerning structure creation, as a key enabler for the emergence of complex systems.