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Article
Ecosystem Advantage: How to Successfully Harness the Power of Partners
California Management Review
  • Peter James WILLIAMSON, University of Cambridge
  • Arnoud DE MEYER, Singapore Management University
Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
10-2012
Abstract

Changes in the global environment are generating opportunities for companies to build advantage by creating loosely coupled networks or ecosystems. Ecosystems are larger, more diverse, and more fluid than a traditional set of bilateral partnerships or complementors. By leveraging ecosystems, companies can deliver complex solutions while maintaining corporate focus. This article describes six keys to unlock ecosystem advantage: pinpointing where value is created, defining an architecture of differentiated partner roles, stimulating complementary partner investments, reducing the transaction costs, facilitating joint learning across the network, and engineering effective ways to capture profit.

Keywords
  • networks,
  • value creation,
  • organizational structure
Identifier
10.1525/cmr.2012.55.1.24
Publisher
University of California Press
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2012.55.1.24
Citation Information
Peter James WILLIAMSON and Arnoud DE MEYER. "Ecosystem Advantage: How to Successfully Harness the Power of Partners" California Management Review Vol. 55 Iss. 1 (2012) p. 24 - 46 ISSN: 0008-1256
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/arnoud_demeyer/15/