Are You Ready to Become an Ecosystem Player? - rectangle

Related Expertise: Strategic Planning, Business Strategy, Digital Ecosystems

Are You Ready to Become an Ecosystem Player?

By Ulrich PidunMartin Reeves, and Balázs Zoletnik

New players have added collaboration (in the form of ecosystems) as a source of competitive advantage. Traditional companies have started to understand the threat, embrace the opportunity, and launch their own business ecosystems. But many incumbents realize that it’s hard to become an ecosystem player.
  • According to our research, only 15% of business ecosystems thrive in the long run. This success rate is not higher for incumbents.
  • In our research and our work with these firms, we found that they need to rethink their management principles, question deeply held beliefs, and build new capabilities.
  • Traditional companies must make eight shifts to become successful ecosystem players. In mindset: shift from efficiency to imagination, from an inward to an outward focus, from capturing to creating value, from hierarchical control to collaboration. In operating model: shift the skill set, management system, digital operating model, and organization.
Read more about the transition to ecosystem player here.

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