The biological nature of business networks
Stumble It!Harvard Professor Marco Iansiti predicts that the future business competition will not be between companies or even supply chains but between networks.
Professor Iansiti likens these networks to biological ecosystems and says that “the hallmark of both a biological and business ecosystem is the way that every members fate is ultimately tied to the health of the network as a whole no matter how fit an individual member appears to be.”
In other words you can't make it by yourself no matter how big, fast or strong you are!
He then goes on to explore the analogy of keystone species in nature who play central roles in holding entire ecosystems together hence the books title:
The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability (Harvard Business School Press, 2004)
He goes on the identify two other key network roles in addition to keystones - dominators and niche players and suggests that the vital strategic question for any company in a network is what is the right role for them to play.
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Comments
fascinating - I am such a fan of your blog that I thought I'd finally tell you. You make the complex interesting and understandable - and you are at the nexus of info for those of us who believe "the power of us" will go through several iterations.
Read the book Illicit?
- Kare
Posted by: Kare Anderson | January 14, 2007 7:04 PM
Kare
Thanks for the encouragement and the book reference:
Illicit is by Moises Niam and is reviewed below by John Robb
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2005/11/book_review_ill.html
Posted by: Ken Thompson | January 14, 2007 7:36 PM
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