
Business Ecosystem
Table of Contents What Is a Business Ecosystem? Understanding a Business Ecosystem Ecosystems and Competition A business ecosystem is the network of organizations — including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, government agencies, and so on — involved in the delivery of a specific product or service through both competition and cooperation. The idea is that each entity in the ecosystem affects and is affected by the others, creating a constantly evolving relationship in which each entity must be flexible and adaptable in order to survive, as in a biological ecosystem. Ecosystems create strong barriers to entry for new competition, as potential entrants not only have to duplicate or better the core product, but they must also compete against the entire system of independent complementing businesses and suppliers that form the network. Being a part of a business ecosystem provides mechanisms to leverage technology, achieve excellence in research and business competence, and compete effectively against other companies. Some other goals of a business ecosystem include: Driving new collaborations to address rising social and environmental challenges Harnessing creativity and innovation to lower the cost of production or allow members to reach new customers Accelerating the learning process to effectively collaborate and share insights, skills, expertise, and knowledge Creating new ways to address fundamental human needs and desires It is for these reasons that in today's rapidly changing business world, a company creates its own ecosystem or comes up with a way to join an existing ecosystem by providing an advantage that is currently lacking in that ecosystem.

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What Is a Business Ecosystem?
A business ecosystem is the network of organizations — including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, government agencies, and so on — involved in the delivery of a specific product or service through both competition and cooperation. The idea is that each entity in the ecosystem affects and is affected by the others, creating a constantly evolving relationship in which each entity must be flexible and adaptable in order to survive as in a biological ecosystem.




Understanding a Business Ecosystem
In the 1930s, British botanist Arthur Tansley introduced the term ecosystem to describe a community of organisms interacting with each other and their environments: air, water, earth, etc. In order to thrive, these organisms compete and collaborate with each other on available resources, co-evolve, and jointly adapt to external disruptions.
Business strategist James Moore adopted this biological concept in his 1993 Harvard Business Review article "Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition", in which he paralleled companies operating in the increasingly interconnected world of commerce to a community of organisms adapting and evolving to survive. Moore suggested that a company be viewed not as a single firm in an industry, but as a member of a business ecosystem with participants spanning across multiple industries.
Like natural ecosystems, the firms involved in business ecosystems compete for survival with adaptation and sometimes extinction.
Advances in technology and increasing globalization have changed ideas about the best ways to do business, and the idea of a business ecosystem is thought to help companies understand how to thrive in this rapidly changing environment. Moore defined the business ecosystem as follows:
An economic community supported by a foundation of interacting organizations and individuals — the organisms of the business world. The economic community produces goods and services of value to customers, who are themselves members of the ecosystem. The member organisms also include suppliers, lead producers, competitors, and other stakeholders. Over time, they co-evolve their capabilities and roles and tend to align themselves with the directions set by one or more central companies. Those companies holding leadership roles may change over time, but the function of ecosystem leader is valued by the community because it enables members to move toward shared visions to align their investments and to find mutually supportive roles.
In effect, the business ecosystem consists of a network of interlinked companies that dynamically interact with each other through competition and cooperation to grow sales and survive. An ecosystem includes suppliers, distributors, consumers, government, processes, products, and competitors. When an ecosystem thrives, it means that the participants have developed patterns of behavior that streamline the flow of ideas, talent, and capital throughout the system.
Ecosystems and Competition
Ecosystems create strong barriers to entry for new competition, as potential entrants not only have to duplicate or better the core product, but they must also compete against the entire system of independent complementing businesses and suppliers that form the network.
Being a part of a business ecosystem provides mechanisms to leverage technology, achieve excellence in research and business competence, and compete effectively against other companies. Some other goals of a business ecosystem include:
It is for these reasons that in today's rapidly changing business world, a company creates its own ecosystem or comes up with a way to join an existing ecosystem by providing an advantage that is currently lacking in that ecosystem.
Related terms:
Barriers to Entry
Barriers to entry are the costs or other obstacles that prevent new competitors from easily entering an industry or area of business. read more
Best Practices
Best practices are a set of guidelines, ethics, or ideas that represent the most efficient or prudent course of action for a business or investor. read more
Cartel
A cartel is an organization created between a group of producers of a good or service to regulate supply in order to manipulate prices. read more
Commerce
Commerce refers to the exchange of goods, services, or something of value between businesses or entities. read more
Coopetition
Coopetition happens when companies engage in both competition and cooperation to achieve some sort of mutual benefit. read more
Economic Network
An economic network is a combination of individuals, groups, or countries interacting to benefit the community as a whole. read more
Economics : Overview, Types, & Indicators
Economics is a branch of social science focused on the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. read more
Inflation
Inflation is a decrease in the purchasing power of money, reflected in a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy. read more
Keiretsu
Keiretsu is a business network composed of independent firms that have close relationships and sometimes take small equity stakes in each other. read more
Stakeholder
A stakeholder is a party with an interest in an enterprise; stakeholders in a corporation include investors, employees, customers, and suppliers. read more