MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Myths and Realities of Business Ecosystems

Before determining an ecosystem strategy, organizations must first shift to a new perspective and way of thinking.

In annual reports, the term ecosystem occurs 13 times more frequently now than it did a decade ago. But like any buzzword, it’s often overapplied. The term has been used to refer to everything from a country (“China is the second strongest ecosystem&”) to a support function (“the HR ecosystem”), a portfolio of products (“the Darico ecosystem is made up of 5 products”), and even a bundle of services intended to make people happy (“a happiness ecosystem”).

Behind this semantic overstretch, however, lies a substantive new phenomenon: the rise of dynamic, multicompany systems as a new way of organizing economic activity. Seven of the world’s 10 largest companies, all using technology to disrupt not only their sectors but broad swaths of the economy, now depend on such systems, and ecosystems thinking is more prominent in faster-growing companies across the S&P 500.

About the Author

Jack Fuller is a consultant in the BCG Henderson Institute, BCG’s think tank for strategy and management. Michael G. Jacobides (@jacobides) is a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School, where he holds the Sir Donald Gordon Chair of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and the co-author of the World Economic Forum’s recent Briefing Paper on digital platforms and ecosystems Martin Reeves (@martinkreeves) is global director of the BCG Henderson Institute and a senior partner in BCG’s New York office.

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