I think what he's saying (and your example doesn't contradict) is that there exists a common fallacy of confusing individual firms' complex behaviors, like plan

I think what he's saying (and your example doesn't contradict) is that there exists a common fallacy of confusing individual firms' complex behaviors, like planning and executing a new manufacturing plant, with emergent behavior. Similarly a species doesn't increase its reproduction rate: it grows in numbers or it shrinks (to the point of extinction) based on individual specimens' reproductive behavior. The equivalent in economics here, I think, would be net exports. Though there is correlative power between the firm and the economy, the specimen and the species, the incentives and long-term/short-term outcomes might not be aligned, which has implications for policy.