Dynamic capabilities for orchestrating digital innovation ecosystems: Conceptual integration and research opportunities

Abstract

While most previous research on orchestration of digital innovation ecosystems has examined governance structures, our knowledge of relevant dynamic capabilities remains abstract and lacks conceptual integration. This imbalance limits current knowledge to the extent that digital innovation ecosystem orchestration is mainly considered a structural issue. Based on a synthesis of related literature, we present a novel dynamic capabilities framework that builds on sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capabilities for digital innovation ecosystem orchestration. We differentiate two major challenges addressed in orchestrating such ecosystems: component challenges and complement challenges. We propose six concrete routines that collectively help address these challenges. These include co-creating architectural knowledge, cultivating boundary objects, renegotiating system integration, screening complementors, co-specializing interfaces, and restructuring complementarities. We illustrate each of these routines with examples from the automotive sector. In addition, we sketch trajectories for future research both at the level of the individual routines and at the level of the overall framework.