ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how to understand this by studying the environment as business ecologies. A consortium of car manufacturers created COVISINT at the turn of the millennium as an e-business platform where they, after contract negotiations regarding functionality and contract terms, could place requests for proposals, having suppliers compete on price level. The business ecology relevant to Valeo would include not only the car industry, with Valeo’s customers, competitors and suppliers. A final example of business-ecology dynamics with consequences for price models is the spread of business concepts which can move across industry borders. The reason for engaging with the business-ecology concept is that the business ecologies in which one intends to participate, and how those ecologies will develop, are among the most important starting points in deciding which price models the business will need and possible alterations to other parts of the business model.
