Towards a Theory of Ecosystems

Question 1

What does the business ecosystem stream revolve around?

Answer 1

one firm or new venture.

Question 2

Business | how does it consider an ecosystem?

Answer 2

as a community of organizations and individuals that impact the enterprise, its customers, and its suppliers. All actors affect each other. The environment is what the firm must monitor and react to, and it affects its dynamic capabilities and its ability to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

Question 3

Business | What about an individual’s performance?

Answer 3

An individual’s performance is tied to the overall performance of the ecosystem

Question 4

Business | Synonyms for hub firms

Answer 4

lead firm, keystone organization, ecosystem captain

Question 5

Business | What does a hub firm manage?

Answer 5

the knowledge mobility, innovation appropriability, and network stability.

Question 6

What does an innovation ecosystem stream revolve around?

Answer 6

a focal innovation and the set of components and complements that support it

Question 7

Innovation | Definition ecosystem

Answer 7

a collaborative arrangement through which firms combine their offerings into a coherent solution. Its emphasis is on understanding how players interact, create, and commercialize innovations to benefit customers. Only with adequate coordination within the ecosystem will innovations succeed. It is intended to capture the link between the core product, its components, and its complementary product.

Question 8

What does a platform ecosystem stream revolve around?

Answer 8

the interdependence between platform sponsors and their complement providers.

Question 9

Platform | Definition ecosystem

Answer 9

the platform’s sponsor and all providers of complements. It takes the hub-and-spoke form

Question 10

Platform | What is the hub-and-spoke form?

Answer 10

a list of firms connected to the central platform via shared or open-resource technologies or technical standards. Note that complements can generate complementary innovations as well as gaining access to the platform’s customers

Question 11

Platform | What kind of market places can the ecosystem be seen as?

Answer 11

a semi-regulated marketplace that fosters entrepreneurial action under coordination and direction of the platform sponsor or it is seen as a a multisided market enabling transactions among distinct groups of users.

Question 12

What do ecosystems require?

Answer 12

providers of complementaries that might not be bound contractually, but have significant independence

Question 13

What is an architect?

Answer 13

the one who sets the system-level goal, defines the hierarchical differentiation of member roles, and establishes standards and interfaces. Therefore, an architect is essential for an ecosystem

Question 14

What are key tools to motivate ecosystem members?

Answer 14

formal mechanisms, platform governance, and intellectual property rights.

Question 15

What do distinct parts of the ecosystem present?

Answer 15

Organizations that are separated by thin crossing points

Question 16

What are thin crossing points?

Answer 16

discrete parts of the production process

Question 17

What does modularity do for an ecosystem?

Answer 17

It creates the conditions for an ecosystem to emerge

Question 18

What does modularity lead to?

Answer 18

less transaction costs, which in turn leads to the emergence of markets

Question 19

Definition unique complementarity

Answer 19

A doesn’t function without B, hence A is maximized with B

Question 20

When is a complementarity generic?

Answer 20

if the resource is generic enough for firms to draw on it with little concern for governance or risks of misappropriation

Question 21

Definition supermodular/Edgeworth complementarity

Answer 21

more of A makes B more valuable. This is the case when coordinated investments in A and B yield higher returns than uncoordinated equivalants

Question 22

general definition ecosystem

Answer 22

the set of actors with varying degrees of multilateral, nongeneric complementarities that are not fully hierarchically controlled

Question 23

Definition multilateral, nongeneric complementarities

Answer 23

either unique complimentarities or supermodular/Edgeworth complementarities.

Question 24

What does it mean that connecting to an ecosystem involves some investment that is not fully fungible?

Answer 24

the assets in place cannot be easily redeployed elsewhere without costs

Question 25

What does it mean that ecosystems are not unilaterally hierarchically controlled?

Answer 25

Their members all retain residual control and claims over their assets and not one party can set the terms.