The time of vertical businesses and firm-centric views are no longer accurate to describe the business environment of companies and industries. This is replaced by dynamic networks and business ecosystems, which consists of collaborating business partners, suppliers, customers, competitors, indirect and direct competitors. The importance of the ecosystem for companies is descriped by Adner as
No matter your situation, your success depends not just on your own efforts but also on the ability, willingness, and likelihood that the partners that make up your innovation ecosystem succeed as well 1
Thus, the importance of an accurate documentation, evolution and visualization of ecosystem related information if highly relevant for companies to succeed in ever changing business environment. Furthermore, the integration of novel partners on a continuous basis is one key success factor.
The research goals of this project are the evaluation of relevant information to be gathered and documented of actors of the ecosystem and their changing relations, the modelling and finally the visualization of the ecosystem. Thereby, the current existing research gap of addressing and understanding the network of interlinking business exchanges and the interaction at creating and developing value2 will be addressed.
Sources:
1 Adner, R. “The Wide Lens: What Successful Innovators See That Others Miss”. Portfolio Trade (2012)
2 Bankvall, Lars, Anna Dubois, and Frida Lind. "Conceptualizing business models in industrial networks." Industrial Marketing Management (2016)