ABSTRACT
The key challenge for firms participating in an ecosystem is to identify and develop opportunities to create value while ensuring that they appropriate a fair share in light of their contributions. This chapter explores this business ecosystem challenge in some detail and focuses on types of business ecosystems and roles participating firms. It provides activities associated with the management of business ecosystems. The alliance development framework is used to present specific managerial guidelines for firms participating in business ecosystems. Business ecosystems are viable in competitive environments where customers demand complex integrated solutions, where knowledge is a key resource, and tends to be dispersed among parties and locations, and where uncertainty demands flexibility in how value is created. Their success depends on three critical attributes: ecosystem members, ecosystem models, and ecosystem context. The chapter concludes with a summary and a case illustration.
