Blindsided by a competitor that came out of nowhere? Challenged to collaborate more deeply with a supply partner than you ever imagined? Asked to think out of the box and partner with a rival firm? If so, you’re being challenged by your business ecosystems.

Today’s companies are embedded in multiple, complex relationships that make them interdependent on each other for success. It’s only recently that corporate leaders are realizing that ecosystems are more than a concept. Ecosystems have intense implications for how companies plan for the future, and they ignore those implications at their own risk. Learning about ecosystems can help organizations improve effectiveness, manage risk, and break through to new innovations.

Learn About Ecosystems

Take a next step towards using ecosystem knowledge to benefit your organization with these free resources. You can find more articles on our blog.

You might also be interested in the original business ecosystems article by James Moore, the landmark article “Strategy as Ecology” by Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien, “Why Walmart is Like a Forest” by David Hurst, and “Amoeba Management: Lessons from Japan’s Kyocera” by Ralph Adler and Toshiro Hiromoto.

Dive Into Ecosystem Assessment

If you’re ready to take action, try these starter tools that will help you assess and analyze your ecosystems. The caveat: these tools are just a start. For a more robust assessment, contact us.

• Health Diagnostic – Is your organization equipped to survive in today’s rapidly changing market? Take this short diagnostic to gauge your organization’s capacity to adapt and respond to the market. The 18 questions assess key factors supporting organizational resiliency, such as market impact, customer connection, strategic clarity, organizational agility, employee engagement, and market volatility. Free Resource.
• Ecosystem Mapping – Do you understand who is in your business ecosystem? Can you assess the opportunities and disruptive changes emerging within your ecosystem? This short tool will help you, in 30 minutes by yourself or an hour with a team, generate a starter view of your business ecosystem. Free Resource.
• Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment – Today, companies’ fates are more intimately tied to that of other organizations than ever before. To think about how business ecosystem interdependencies and relationships could affect your organization, start with a simple vulnerability assessment. Free Resource.
• Being Better: Strategic Leadership for Complex Ecosystems – A guide to building your skills as an effective leader within a complex business ecosystem. Partnering Resources blog.

Didn’t find what you were looking for here? Check out our organizational network resources.

Contact us to learn more about how we can help your company work more effectively within its ecosystem.