Orchestrator legitimacy in a nascent ecosystem: The case of Atos and fintechs

Abstract

In ecosystems where collaboration between firms is advantageous or even necessary to progress firm innovation, buy-in must be won from stakeholders to enable operative actors to do so. Flashy ideas and big promises may carry weight in the process of winning them over, but convincing stakeholders of the legitimacy of the proposed collaboration is paramount. In this paper, we investigate how actors within a firm engage in a bifurcated legitimacy campaign to coerce internal and external stakeholders into supporting an innovating orchestration system. Drawing on a unique case study at one of Europe's leading IT service integrators, and drawing on institutional theory and ecosystems literatures, we specifically look at shifting motives, expectations, and legitimacy-building strategies through a process lens to shed light on how an incumbent's internal and external stakeholders can be cleverly made to work for each other.