Networked Organizations: Assessing Business Ecosystems and Helping Organizations Find Opportunities in Our Complex World

Companies work in complex, overlapping, constantly changing environments. Today’s customer landscape is not tomorrow’s. And who knows what the economy will do? Yet companies need to produce and perform consistently amidst these changes. Creative companies find opportunities in their ecosystems amidst the tumult.

Business ecosystems are dynamic webs of interdependent organizations that rely on each other for success. The inventor of the term, James F. Moore, explains that business ecosystems include those we’ve always considered to be part of a corporation such as those inside the organization’s walls. But ecosystems include more than just staff and customers. They also those who can significantly influence the business but who are often considered pesky outsiders like trade associations and competitors. Forming usable (not overwhelming, but rich enough to be helpful) mental pictures of how these entities interconnect is difficult. Finding opportunities and taking action based on those pictures is even more difficult.

In this session, participants learn methods that can help OD consultants and their clients navigate their strategic landscape. Participants learn about a simple, yet robust, methodology for mapping business ecosystems and finding opportunities within them.