Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • February 2005
  • Article
  • Optimize

Managing the Ecosystem

By: Marco Iansiti
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

The days of the corporate lone wolf are over. In our increasingly interconnected world, standing alone is no longer a viable business model. Instead, smart companies rely heavily on networks of partners, suppliers, and customers to achieve market success and sustain performance. These networks look increasingly like a biological ecosystem, in which companies succeed and fail as a collective whole. They operate in a business environment of shared fates and business models, and see their ecosystems as helping them become more resilient to market changes and more responsive to customer needs. Business ecosystems are widespread within industries such as banking, biotechnology, insurance, and software. As with biological systems, the boundaries of a business ecosystem are fluid and sometimes difficult to define. Ecosystems traverse industries and encompass the full range of organizations that influence the value of a product or service.

Keywords

Integrated Corporate Reporting; Partners and Partnerships; Industry Clusters; Customers; Markets; Situation or Environment; Banks and Banking; Insurance; Software

Citation

Iansiti, Marco. "Managing the Ecosystem." Optimize 4, no. 2 (February 2005).
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Marco Iansiti

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • June 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise

    By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
    • June 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise Instructions

    By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
    • June 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Clash of Two Giants: Competing in the Age of Platforms Simulation

    By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
More from the Author
  • Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
  • Clash of Two Giants Simulation Exercise Instructions By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
  • Clash of Two Giants: Competing in the Age of Platforms Simulation By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College