Ecosystem Design Rules: Identifying, Shaping, and Benefiting from Alignment Structure

Abstract

In this symposium, we bring together the four papers that examine the origin and impact of what defines ecosystem rules. While recent work actively recognizes ecosystems as a ubiquitous architecture of economic activities, the literature often assumes ecosystem alignment structure as given. Less understood is how the common rules of ecosystems that define alignment structure emerge and how they drive differences in firms’ market position in an ecosystem. The four papers discuss what structural and institutional conditions drive asymmetric power distribution in interdependency, and how firms shape and materialize technological interdependence to their advantages. Employing diverse theoretical perspectives and methodologies, the papers in this symposium address an interesting set of questions to advance our understanding of ecosystem alignment structure. The symposium should be of interest to scholars of strategic management and technology innovation management. What Drives and Defines Digital Platform Power? Presenter: Michael G Jacobides; London Business School The Role of Institutional User Community in Technology Standard-setting and Ecosystem Evolution Presenter: Najoung Lim; U. of Maryland Presenter: Rajshree Agarwal; U. of Maryland Shaping Ecosystem Rules: How Interdependencies Affect Firms’ Shaping Success Through Tech Standard Presenter: Ram Ranganathan; U. of Texas at Austin Presenter: John S. Chen; U. of Florida Presenter: Anindya Ghosh; Tilburg U. Value Creation Trade-off in Ecosystems:Leveraging Complementarities While Managing Interdependencies Presenter: Shiva Agarwal; U. of Texas at Austin Presenter: Rahul Kapoor; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania