From peripheral to core: a case study of a 3D printing firm on business ecosystems reconstruction

The rapid development of emerging digital technologies is giving peripheral firm, which is participant in secondary and complementary positions in a business ecosystem, unprecedented opportunities to shape its own ecosystem. Prior ecosystem studies mainly focus on the perspective of core firm, while few taking the perspective of peripheral firms. Using the case of a leading 3D printing firm in China, this study adopts resource orchestration as theoretical lens and investigates how a peripheral firm developed its business ecosystem and became a core firm in its own digital ecosystem. Specifically, this study identifies three stages of ecosystem development and the detailed processes and mechanisms, respectively. It contributes to the literature by exploring the ecosystem dynamics from an understudied perspective and identifying the processes and mechanisms of peripheral firms developing its ecosystem towards digital ecosystem. It also sheds lights for peripheral firms in existing business ecosystems in their business strategy development.