Understanding Business Ecosystems Using a Morphology of Value Systems

Overview:Business ecosystems have become a novel type of value system in all economic sectors. Many of the world's largest and most valuable companies operate with business ecosystem approaches. The lack of a uniform understanding of business ecosystems' features and characteristics make it difficult for decision makers in companies to develop and implement effective business ecosystem strategies. We created a morphology that describes all value systems and applied it to business ecosystems. We link business ecosystem characteristics to current interorganizational research and also help practitioners operationalize the concept of business ecosystems. Companies can use the managerial implications we provide to leverage ecosystems and co-create value.