title: Ecosystems in the Business Environment : Investigating Competitive Advantages of the Firm
Creators: name: Götz, Franziska
Publisher: name: University of Bayreuth
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: business ecosystems
subject: value co-creation
subject: dynamic capabilities
subject: innovation capabilities
subject: social capabilities
subject: 330

description: In times of increasing digitalization and rapidly changing environments, it is becoming ever more important for organizations not only to rely on their own core competencies, but also to further expand their resource base and capabilities. Due to the dynamics of this ongoing devel-opment, which in the context of digitization is justified among other things by a higher degree of customer centricity, organizations can no longer manage this adaptation to these changes on their own. The expansion of their own core competencies through networking with other players, even across industry boundaries, is becoming essential for their continued existence, and in case of doubt, even for their survival. Business ecosystems represent precisely this train of thought. Business ecosystems consist of different actors, who may belong to different industries, joining forces for the purpose of sharing complementary resources and creating joint value through interaction, also known as value co-creation. Due to the purpose-bound interconnectedness of the actors, the actors’ relationship can be characterized by coopetition, meaning the simultaneous existence of cooperative as well as competitive relationships. Business ecosystems represent robust and resilient systems due to their ability to dynamically adapt to the environment, and they have gained significant prom-inence in both academia and industry over the past decade. However, despite the increasing number of publications, value creation has so far been considered as a rather peripheral factor in scientific studies. For this reason, this thesis sheds light on influencing factors that can have an optimizing or reducing effect on the value creation of business ecosystems, depending on their deployment and application. Thus, this thesis takes a strategic perspective to consider the impact of the individual influencing factors. Contributing to this overarching goal, this thesis investigates three relevant areas of influencing factors. In this context, dynamic capabilities are seen as a fundamental area of influencing fac-tors for increasing competitiveness. Building on this, innovation capabilities, in particular the exchange of knowledge, are key factors for increasing value creation and thus competitiveness for both the actors as well as the entire business ecosystem. Social factors in turn form the foundation for interaction and the mutual, complementary exchange of resources among the actors in the ecosystem. Finally, yet importantly, gaining the trust of customers is becoming increasingly important within ecosystems, since customer centralization plays a crucial role, especially in business ecosystems. To consider the respective influencing factors and their areas, this thesis is divided into three corresponding research goals. First, I seek to conceptualize dynamic capabilities in the ecosystem literature. For this purpose, Research Article #1 contains a classification of platform-based ecosystems, which are categorized against the background of traditional strategic theories such as the resource-based view (RBV), the knowledge-based view (KBV) and the dynamic capabilities view (DCV). From this, strategic recommendations for action can be derived on an aggregated level. Research Article #2 builds on these considerations by demonstrating that the theories of RBV, KBV, and DCV separately have only limited explanatory power for business ecosystems. For this reason, Research Article #2 represents a call for further research. Research Article #3 illustrates the foundation for the state-of-the-art for selective revealing and thus uncovers another research gap in the field of dynamic capabilities. Therefore, the paper is likewise a further development of the first research article. Research Article #4 focuses on the establishment of entrepreneurial ecosystems in developed and emerging markets and identifies key factors which are distinctive for entrepreneurial ecosystems against the background of specific regional differences. In this way, the research article sheds light on relevant levers for the establishment of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Second, I attempt to shed more light on innovation capabilities in terms of how they are acquired, how they are built and integrated, and, relatedly, how obstacles are overcome during their establishment. Research Article #5 reveals a framework with specific success factors for implementing a successful knowledge exchange process within innovation ecosystems. In Research Article #6, a maturity model was created for the establishment of cognitive computing systems (CCS) in the public sector, which represent a basic technology for cross-sector networking. Research Article #7 looks at overcoming obstacles to the further development of business model innovations in the automotive industry. The article provides recommendations for overcoming obstacles in the implementation of business model innovation for automotive incumbents who are in the process of establishing digital business ecosystems. Third, I seek to foster a more thorough understanding of social factors. Research Article #8 therefore examines the influence of the most critical social factors on value creation. Research Article #9 considers the design of trust-aware business processes using a trust management framework as an example of a digital business ecosystem. Regarding the approach to addressing the respective research goals, this thesis employs a multi-methodological research approach due to its cumulative nature in order to address the respective research questions appropriately. Concisely, this thesis provides a fundamental understanding of dynamic, innovative, and social capabilities as factors influencing value creation. In addition, by taking a deeper look at and reflecting on these capabilities, recommendations for action can be derived for practice based on frameworks, maturity models, and process designs. Both approaches stimulate further research into the development and expansion of dynamic capabilities and their influence on the optimization of value creation.