Ecosystem Partners Research Articles

Loner or team player: How firms allocate orchestrator tasks amongst ecosystem actors

Ecosystems have become a major trend in research and practice alike. Within an ecosystem, the so-called orchestrator is considered to be one of the most important roles. However, extant research falls short of explaining how and why this orchestrator role and the resulting tasks of orchestration are allocated to specific ecosystem members. Based on a case study with eight cases, this paper aims to shed light on this crucial question. Our results revealed three basic patterns of ecosystem orchestration: single-, double-, and multi-orchestration ecosystems. These were determined by two key contingencies: production related knowledge and consumption related knowledge. This discovery yields several contributions to research and managerial practice. We show whether, and under which circumstances, orchestrators might include other ecosystem participants in the key tasks of orchestration. We demonstrate how orchestrators allocate these tasks to specific participants in the ecosystem. Furthermore, our results shed light on how orchestrators manage their ecosystem partners and secure their position within the ecosystem. And finally, we introduce a new view on the role of the orchestrator.

Strategizing with Hardware Rich Open Source Ecosystems

Companies are increasingly adopting open source strategies to develop and exploit complex infrastructures and platforms that combine software, hardware and standard interfaces. Such strategies require the development of a vibrant ecosystem of partners that combines the innovation capabilities of hundreds of companies from different industries. Our aim is to help decision makers assess the benefits and challenges associated with creating or joining such ecosystems. We use a case study approach on six major collaborative ecosystems that enable the development of complex, high cost infrastructures and platforms. We characterize their strategy, governance, and their degree of intellectual property (IP) openness. We offer a three-dimensional framework that helps managers characterize such ecosystems. Although all the ecosystems studied aim at scaling up innovative solutions, their strategy, governance and IP openness vary. An upstream strategy aimed at replacing supplier proprietary design with open substitutes requires a democratic governance and an intellectual property policy that maximize the attractiveness of the ecosystem. A downstream strategy aimed at carving a space in new markets requires an autocratic governance and an intellectual property policy that combine attractiveness and value capture opportunities.

Organizational Narratives and the Construction of a Prototypical Disabled Employee

Conceptualizing organizational narratives as a means of employee identity regulation, I examine how an organization narratively constructs its prototypical disabled employee over time and why stable identity narratives allow for reading change. The study’s data comprise public narratives (e.g., news releases) of the Government of India, the country’s largest employer of persons with disabilities. Narratives during 2008–2016 were considered as this timespan witnessed the design of inclusive legislation that emphasized defining persons with a disability and their entitlements. Findings indicate that the label of “disadvantage” was consistently used to portray the target employee. Alongside other narrative material suggesting, for example, that the target employee was someone who required employment assistance, this label was supplied to external audiences to convert them into potential partners. This supply of narrative material further reinforced the portrayal of the target employee. Consistent use of this expansive label subsumed changing definitions of who is a person with a disability, allowed for aggregations with diverse disadvantaged collectives, and accommodated changes in employment entitlements and ecosystem partners, thereby allowing the reading of change in stable identity narratives. These findings, which are pertinent to identity regulation of employees with a disability, can also be extended to studying other categories of constructed social difference in the broader field of management and organization studies.

Developing and Implementing Business Ecosystem Strategies - A Performance Measurement Perspective

An increasing number of firms are investing in the creation of business ecosystems to acquire novel capabilities to innovate increasingly complex products and services, and to achieve competitive advantage. Research highlights the importance for companies to develop and implement ecosystem strategies; however, it also notes that such strategies must be characterized by emergence, dynamism and network orientation, and be aimed at influencing, rather than controlling, ecosystem partners. We provide an in-depth analysis of ecosystem strategy development and implementation through a qualitative, longitudinal study carried out at a multinational technology corporation headquartered in Japan. We also identify several aspects related to governance and control – specifically performance measurement and management practices – that acted initially as barriers to ecosystem development and then as enablers. Our findings portray the process of creating the ecosystem strategy as contentious and iterative, and as eventually requiring the company to challenge some of its deeply held assumptions and approaches in order for the new strategy to be implemented. Moreover, even though the case company did not act as an “orchestrator,” it actively contributed to the development of a value proposition that was highly customer centric and dynamic, and that was not enforced by any other firm. In relation to performance measurement and management, we find that top-down, financially oriented approaches are likely to limit the growth of a business ecosystem and identify performance targets and indicators not just as tools used to gather data, but as key mechanisms to embody and express competing logics.

It Takes a Village: A Case Study of Business Development and Innovation in a UAS/AUS Ecosystem to Address Critical Industry Challenges

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Entrepreneurial innovation that spurs economic development requires a collaborative cluster of cooperative effort, across a diverse ecosystem of partners. Literature provides resounding evidence to support the notion that an innovative, entrepreneurial ecosystem is critical to both successful economic development and industry sector growth. The UAS/AUS industry sector is a fast-growing sector across the United States, with regional leadership demonstrated in North Dakota, California, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. This case study is focused on investigating how the North Dakota autonomous systems ecosystem continues to evolves and develop mechanisms and partnerships to address industry pain points, facilitate cutting edge research, ensure high-quality UAS/AUS testing, and support an adaptive business development pipeline across the entrepreneurial life cycle. This paper presents a theoretical overview of entrepreneurial ecosystem theory as well as a rich description of a UAS venture interacting with the ecosystem to support business incubation. The case study found support for the interconnected nature of the interactions in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the ability of a startup to succeed and grow. The case study further identified a weakness in entrepreneurial ecosystems focused on policy and regulation when innovation outpaces public support, laws and organizational policy.</div></div>

Smartphone platforms as privacy regulators

A series of recent developments highlight the increasingly important role of online platforms in impacting data privacy in today's digital economy. Revelations and parliamentary hearings about privacy violations in Facebook's app and service partner ecosystem, EU Court of Justice judgments on joint responsibility of platforms and platform users, and the rise of smartphone app ecosystems where app behaviour is governed by app distribution platforms and operating systems, all show that platform policies can make or break the enjoyment of privacy by users. In this article, we examine these developments and explore the question of what can and should be the role of platforms in protecting data privacy of their users.The article first distinguishes the different roles that platforms can have in ensuring respect for data privacy in relevant ecosystems. These roles include governing access to data, design of relevant interfaces and privacy mechanisms, setting of legal and technical standards, policing behaviour of the platform's (business) users, coordinating responsibility for privacy issues between platform users and the platform, and direct and indirect enforcement of a platform's data privacy standards on relevant players. At a higher level, platforms can also perform a role by translating different international regulatory requirements into platform policies, thereby facilitating compliance of apps in different regulatory environments. And in all of this, platforms are striking a balance between ensuring the respect for data privacy in data-driven environments on the one hand and optimization of the value and business opportunities connected to the platform and underlying data for users of the platform on the other hand.After this analysis of platforms’ roles in protecting privacy, the article turns to the question of what should this role be and how to better integrate platforms in the current legal frameworks for data privacy in Europe and the US. The article will argue for a compromise between direct regulation of platforms and mere self-regulation, in arguing that platforms should be required to make official disclosures about their privacy-related policies and practices for their respective ecosystems. These disclosures should include statements about relevant conditions for access to data and the platform, the platform's standards with respect to privacy and the way in which these standards ensure or facilitate compliance with existing legal frameworks by platform users, and statements with respect to the risks of abuse of different data sources and platform tools and actions taken to prevent or police such abuses. We argue that such integration of platforms in current regulatory frameworks is both feasible and desirable. It would make the role that platforms already have in practice more explicit. This would help to highlight best practices, create more accountability and could save significant regulatory and compliance resources in bringing relevant information together in one place. In addition, it could provide clarity for business users of platforms, who are now sometimes confronted with restrictive decisions by platforms in ways that lack transparency and oversight.

How to Create a Software Ecosystem? A Partnership Meta-Model and Strategic Patterns

Large keystone organizations use partnership models to manage their software ecosystem partners. Although several partnership models have been developed by platform owners, smaller companies willing to create a new ecosystem may experience difficulties to define the appropriate features of partnership models when switching from an independent software product to an ecosystem. This study proposes a partnership meta-model and four strategic patterns to operationalize it. We adopted the Design Science Research (DSR) method. The partnership meta-model was built in the first cycle of DSR, using a Systematic Mapping Study, and validated through case studies of SAP, Eclipse, and Microsoft Azure ecosystems. In the second cycle of DSR, the strategic patterns were defined through a Multivocal Literature Review and validated by using interviews with professionals. The meta-model presents the key characteristics to define partnership models for emerging software ecosystems. The strategic patterns aim to operationalize the meta-model and, consequently, assist the keystone in defining the features that the partnership model will have and select suitable strategies. The meta-model and the strategic patterns help managers creating and evolving software ecosystems from a software product considering the impact of that transition on the partnership model.

Next Generation of knowledge partnerships for global development. Introduction / Prochaine génération de partenariat de savoir pour le développement global. Introduction

ABSTRACT Despite the rich potential benefits to be had from collaborations amongst practitioners and academic communities in the Canadian global development field, there is a general sense that such exchanges happen much less frequently than they could. The Next Generation programme, which underpins this special issue, presented an opportunity to address knowledge gaps in the current ecosystem of academic-civil society organization (CSO) collaborations, producing new research presented in this issue. Between 2016 and 2019, the NextGen Program sought to test and foster different ways and models of facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration between academics and CSOs in Canada. This introduction takes a reflexive approach, including with respect to the Program's partnership between the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID) and Cooperation Canada (formerly known as the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC)), to present some key lessons and findings from cross-sectoral collaborations in the global development sector. The article then draws on the experiences of a wide range of collaborative models to draw some conclusions about how to nurture a conducive knowledge partnership ecosystem looking forward.

Sharing economy platforms: creating shared value at a business ecosystem level

Sharing Economy Platforms (SEPs) are, in general, easily challenged by social ethics and culture, and are vulnerable to social and institutional uncertainties. Drawing from the Creating Shared Value (CSV) concept (Porter and Kramer, 2011), this article investigates whether CSV activities assist SEPs in retaining sustainable innovation at a business ecosystem level. Based on the Polanyian embeddedness framework, we specifically examine how SEPs’ CSV co-evolves and aligns with virtue ethics and local culture across three growth stages: Community stage, Scaling-up stage, and Legitimation stage. Data for this research were collected from multiple case studies from two major sectors: the bike-sharing platform sector and the ride-sharing platform sector. Our findings indicate that SEPs should co-create shared values by embedding virtue ethics and local culture into their work with key ecosystem partners in order to preserve sustainable innovation. The research contributes to an evolving understanding of CSV activities in the sharing economy literature on SEPs, as well as proposing some practical implications for industrial practitioners and policymakers.

The Next Security Frontier: Taking the Mystery Out of the Supply Chain

The modern technology supply chain is highly complex. Throughout the various stages of design, manufacture, assembly, transport, and operation, a compute device is subject to tampering (malicious or otherwise). This exposes end users and consumers of compute devices to a variety of risks at varying levels of impact. Two potential technology solutions, which aim to provide transparency and insight into the systems in use, are proposed. The success and adoption of these choices, or any other solutions developed, is highly dependent on the participation of ecosystem partners such as foundries, original device manufacturers (ODMs), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Digitalization of Business Processes of Enterprises of the Ecosystem of Industry 4.0: Virtual-Real Aspect of Economic Growth Reserves

The purpose of the research is to present the features of digitization of business processes in enterprises as a foundation on which the gradual formation of Industry 4.0 and the search for economic growth in new virtual reality, which has every chance to be a decisive step in implementing digital strategy for Ukraine and development of the innovation ecosystem. Key problems that arise during the digitalization of business processes in enterprises are presented, among which are: the historical orientation of production to mass, “running” sizes and large batches; large-scale production load; the complexity of cooperation and logic between production sites. It is determined that high-quality and effective tools of innovation-digital transformation in the conditions of virtual reality should include: a single system of on-line order management for all enterprises (application registration – technical expertise – planning – performance control – shipment); Smart Factory, Predictive Maintenance, IIoT, CRM, SCM. Features of digital transformation in the part of formation of enterprises of the ecosystem of Industry 4.0 are revealed. The capabilities and benefits of using Azure cloud platform in enterprises, which includes more than 200 products and cloud services, are analyzed. Azure is said to support open source technologies, so businesses have the ability to use tools and technologies they prefer and are more useful. After conducting a thorough analysis of the acceleration of deep digitalization of business processes by enterprises, authors proposed to put into practice Aruba solution for tracking contacts in the fight against COVID-19. Aruba technology helps locate, allowing you to implement flexible solutions based on Aruba Partner Ecosystem using a USB interface. It is proposed to use SYNTEGRA – a data integration service that provides interactive analytics and provides data models and dashboards in order to accelerate the modernization of data storage and management, optimize reporting in the company and obtain real-time analytics. The possibilities of using Azure cloud platform during the digitization of business processes of enterprises of the ecosystem of Industry 4.0 in the conditions of virtual reality are determined.

Формування бізнес-моделей Інтернету речей за шаблоном ВМС

Формування бізнес-моделей Інтернету речей за шаблоном ВМС

Digital supply chain to unlock new agility: a TISM approach

PurposeTraditional supply chain arrangements have failed to keep up with escalating customer demands and breakthrough innovations. The way forward is a flexible yet innovative network that leverages ecosystem partners and digital tools to unlock new agility. The paper aims at identifying and analyzing numerous critical success factors (CSFs) that may improve the efficiency of a digital supply chain.Design/methodology/approachTwelve CSFs are identified in this paper through an extensive literature survey. Expert opinion has been considered and the hierarchical structure built using total interpretative structural modeling (TISM) which highlights the interdependencies between these CSFs. Cross-impact matrix multiplication (MICMAC) is used to determine the driving and dependence power of each factor.FindingsThis study identified 12 CSFs through an extensive literature survey. The ISM model resulted in six different levels beginning from redesign organization at the bottom of the structure. The TISM model explained why redesigning the organization is pivotal to bringing about novel agility in the supply chain. MICMAC analysis confirmed that the following enhanced the success of a digital supply chain: Sales and Operation Planning Strategies, Strategic Sourcing Techniques, Smart Manufacturing Processes and Warehouse Management.Research limitations/implicationsVarious other components contributing to the 12 CSFs identified in this paper may be discovered and detailed in future research. Additionally, further research is required to expand the existing technology-based services structural model to a more empirical form.Practical implicationsThis study offers a comprehensive but not exhaustive list of CSFs essential to digital supply chain growth. It will enable market experts and leaders to concentrate on key factors leading to tactical decisions and maximum value for firms.Originality/valueThe paper seeks to add to the body of knowledge on real digitally-led supply chain transformation, which is still in its early stages. This study is one of the first, if not the first, to examine success factors critical to the improvement of the performance of the supply chain. It lays the foundation for further research in this field.

The digital platform features for managing acceleration programs and project activities research

The article is devoted to the study of the essence of digital platforms and their main advantages. Digital platforms are now perceived as one of the most effective tools for conducting acceleration and project management programs. These digital platforms include such platforms that support projects, support work within teams, remind of important events and inform about other opportunities. The following advantages are highlighted: possible participants, availability of accelerators, availability of project showcases, project support, support for work within the team, event reminders, information about support systems, a platform engagement strategy. The main digital platforms for carrying out acceleration and project management programs, which are used in Russia, analyzed their main advantages for startups, investors, experts, ecosystem partners, infrastructure institutions and other stakeholders. There are digital platforms that provide the maximum number of services for program acceleration and project management. Opportunities for the development of digital platforms for conducting acceleration and project management programs have been identified. The research was carried out with the financial support of the Perm Government as part of a research project by the regional research group of agreement SED-26-12-10-5.

How partners mediate platform power: Mapping business and data partnerships in the social media ecosystem

Social media platforms’ digital advertising revenues depend considerably on partnerships. Business partnerships are endemic and essential to the business of platforms, yet their role remains relatively underexplored in the literature on platformisation and platform power. This article considers the significance of partnerships in the social media ecosystem to better understand how industry platforms, and the infrastructure they build, mediate and shape platform power and governance. We argue that partners contribute to ‘platformisation’ through their collective development of business-to-business platform infrastructures. Specifically, we examine how partners have integrated social media platforms with what we call the audience economy – an exceptionally complex global and interconnected marketplace of intermediaries involved in the creation, commodification, analysis, and circulation of data audiences for purposes including but not limited to digital advertising and marketing. We determined which relationships are involved, which are exclusive or shared, and identified key ecosystem partners. Further, we found that partners build and integrate extensive infrastructures for data-sourcing and media distribution, surfacing infrastructural and strategic sources and locations, or ‘nodes’, of power in this ecosystem. The empirical findings thus highlight the significance of partnerships and partner integrations and draw attention to the powerful industry players and intermediaries that remain largely invisible.

Challenges and prospects in india's digital health journey.

India's journey in the digital health arena and its contribution to the landmark resolution on digital health by the World Health Organization has been recognized globally. India has demonstrated its commitment to leverage digital health as a health system strengthening intervention, as outlined in the National Digital Health Blueprint based on which, the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) is currently being piloted by the National health authority. Further, the Sandbox environment of NDHM is actively encouraging all the ecosystem partners to familiarize with the evolving national digital health infrastructure. The strategy to enhance the India's progress in implementation and scale-up of digital health interventions are drawing attention to workforce capacity building, harnessing health data to facilitate research and development, evidence-informed development of policies, sustaining efficiency and quality of system through appropriate monitoring, and periodic evaluation informed by frameworks specific to digital health or those adapted to evaluate health informatics applications.

Corporate Digital Responsibility at the Dawn of the Digital Service Revolution

Digitization, artificial intelligence (AI), and service robots will revolutionize virtually all service industries and have the potential to bring unprecedented improvements in customer experience, service quality, and productivity. However, these technological advances also carry serious ethical, fairness, and privacy risks. To explore these risks, this article builds on recent work on corporate digital responsibility (CDR). First, it uses a life-cycle stage perspective of data and technologies (i.e., their creation, operation, refinement, and retainment) as an organizing frame to better understand these risks. Second, to provide insights on where these risks originate, it examines an organization’s business model and its flows of money, service, data, insights, and technologies with customers at the front-end and the business partner ecosystem at the back-end. Third, this article identifies why CDR issues occur. It shows that trade-offs between good CDR practices and five organizational objectives and motivations are key underlying causes (e.g., incremental sales can be achieved with better data and analytics but carry a gamut of privacy, fairness, discrimination and psychological risks). Finally, this article proposes a set of strategies, tools and practices managers can use to address these trade-offs and build a CDR-strong service organization.

A Process Model of Corporate Venture Capital as External Innovation Capability: The Case of JetBlue Technology Ventures

This paper presents a process model of corporate venture capital (CVC) based on field research of JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV), the CVC unit of JetBlue Airways. We examine how the JTV subsidiary was designed and staffed to enable effective interaction with the company’s internal innovation process to create enduring strategic value for JetBlue as well as for the startup companies involved in these interactions. We provide in-depth insight into the CVC process by identifying the interlocking strategic leadership activities at multiple levels of management (top-middle-operational) through which the CVC subsidiary works with VCs and startups, relates to JetBlue’s internal innovation process within different time horizons, and architects and develops a new partner ecosystem to help the company extend its capabilities.

Shaping the future of digital healthcare with printed electronics and a strong partner ecosystem

Shaping the future of digital healthcare with printed electronics and a strong partner ecosystem

Learning Needs Determination for Industry 4.0 Maturity Development in Automotive Organisations in Slovakia

Purpose: This paper aims to present the results of the study focused on the assessment of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) maturity level and adoption level of Quality 4.0 (Q4.0) intelligent technologies in organisations operating in the automotive industry in Slovakia (OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers). The results serves as inputs for identification of learning and development needs.Methodology/Approach: The background of the study was a literature review and quantitative research. The I4.0 maturity model published by PwC (2016) was used in the study, while dimension elements were adjusted to the specifics of the automotive industry.Findings: Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers are in the early stages of I4.0 maturity and adoption of Q4.0 intelligent technologies. OEMs achieve the level of horizontal collaborators in most of the dimensions. Q4.0 intelligent technologies are mostly adopted at an average level. Further development of OEMs to achieve the level of digital champions requires new disruptive business models and a fully integrated partner ecosystem.Research Limitation/Implication: The research is limited by the sample size and target levels of particular dimensions, related elements and Q4.0 intelligent technologies, which were not examined.Originality/Value of paper: The results bring more in-depth insight into the current state of I4.0 maturity and Q4.0 technology adoption level of the automotive organisations in Slovakia. There is no evidence of the study examining holistically the I4.0 maturity and Q4.0 technologies in the automotive.