Value creation through complementary resource reconfiguration: complementor transition to innovation ecosystem orchestrator

Purpose Firms increasingly rely on innovation ecosystems (IEs) for value creation, with both orchestrators and complementors playing critical roles. While existing research mostly focuses on orchestrators’ value creation, we adopt a complementor perspective to explore its transition to IE orchestrator and how complementary resource reconfiguration facilitates this process, driving greater value creation. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a longitudinal study of Neusoft, which transitioned from a complementor in multiple incumbents’ IEs to the orchestrator of its own expanded IE. Findings We show how complementors leverage complementary resources to secure a niche in existing IEs. After accumulating valuable relationships and data, they exchange these for technological capabilities through close collaboration and become co-orchestrators. Ultimately, by fostering a shared vision to integrate complementary resources such as incubating complementor ventures, restructuring supplier networks and innovating based on customer needs, they enhance value creation as orchestrators in their own expanded IE. Originality/value We advance research on value creation in IEs by exploring it from the complementor’s perspective. We extend niche theory by examining complementor transition from their initial niche to IE orchestrator. By integrating dynamic capability and niche theories, we show how reconfiguring complementary resources facilitates these transitions, driving greater value creation, thus contributing to the development of dynamic capability theory in value creation research in the context of IE.