Connecting insights and global best practice in business ecosystems

We are committed to the core values evident in successful ecosystems:

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BUSINESS ECOSYSTEMS: THE LEARNING RESOURCE

A valuable resource for all who are working to know more about ecosystems as educators, practitioners and students. 

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The Business Ecosystem Alliance will create forums for the sharing of knowledge, learning and experience on the subject of ecosystems.

We are dedicated solely to the furtherance of knowledge and understanding and working towards a better world through ecosystems.

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The Business Ecosystem Alliance is a project managed and led by Thinkers50 with support from the Haier Group. All revenue generated by the project is re-invested in events and publishing.

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Blog

The Rise Of The Ecosystem Economy

In the ecosystem age, organizations have made great strides in reconceptualizing themselves as ecological systems rather …

Thinkers50 Hall of Fame

Founded in 2009, the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame honours the legacy of an elite group of thinkers whose work …

Zero Distance Awards

The concept of Zero Distance emphasises the connection between the business and the end-user or customer. …

Beyond either/or: building organizations where efficiency and entrepreneurship happily co-exist

What are the competing priorities in your organization? Perhaps its scale versus flexibility, creativity versus discipline …

Reinventing Competitive Advantage

Nearly every major competitive strategic concept – from Porter’s Five Forces to Christensen’s Disruption …

Inside Transformation: Ge Appliances

The Haier/GE Appliances story embodies critical lessons and principles for twenty-first century business …

RDHY: The State Of The Art

The management philosophy, RenDanHeYi (RDHY) is the cornerstone of the innovative management and …

The Zero Distance Awards 2022

In 2020 the Business Ecosystem Alliance (BEA) launched the Zero Distance Awards.  The first winners included …

Mastering the competitive future

In conversation with BEA’s Stuart Crainer, Professor Chen Jin provides his unique perspective on the new …

Work in Progress

Umberto Lago has been a university professor, private and public manager, entrepreneur and …

Start-up Factory

Following up their bestselling book, Corporate Rebels, for the last two years Joost Minnaar and Pim de Morree have been working …

SEVEN LEVERS TO SHAPE THE ECOSYSTEM ECONOMY

Using his expert knowledge of the energy-sector, William Malek identifies seven levers—from becoming systems savvy to focusing on …

The Ecosystem Canvas: How To Design A Business Ecosystem

Business ecosystems may have become the new buzzword in strategy discussions. But, amid the hype and hyperbole, there is often …

SETTING STANDARDS

What is the role of international standards and certification in the sharing of knowledge and the expansion of best practice in management and organizations? …

ECOSYSTEMS IN MUSIC CREATION AND PERFORMANCE

Ecosystems are frequently looked at through the lens of science, but fresh new insights can be gathered by looking at ecosystems …

Will Individual Companies Exist 50 Years from Now?

Or will business ecosystems eliminate the need for firms as we know them?

Ecosystems for Ecosystems

In spite of significant efforts toward the mitigation of climate change through Net Zero targets for individual governments and companies …

Leadership in an Ecosystem Age

While everyone today is talking about ecosystems, there are still significant opportunities that have not yet been addressed…

LEADING THE OPEN ENTERPRISE: A STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE

Over the past two decades, industry stalwarts and startups alike have deployed a spectrum of “open” strategies and structures …

Applying Value-Based Strategy to Leverage Ecosystems in Your Business Model

Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at…

Ecosystem Competition And The Challenge Of Our Context

James Moore, one of the pioneers of business ecosystems, provides exclusive access to his latest …

Making Sense Of Ecosystems

Kaihan Krippendorff makes sense of the new competitive reality and lessons from the pre-recorded sessions …

From Competitive Advantage To Cooperative Advantage

Thinkers50 award winners Leon Prieto and Simone Phipps champion the power of cooperative advantage to …

Corporate Co-evolution

Thierry Isckia of the Institut Mines-Télécoms and Xavier Parisot of the Institute for Knowledge and Innovation ….

The Power Of Serendipity

Modern life can feel like an endless sequence of cancelled plans, last-minute meetings and delayed ….

Winning the Right Game

Ron Adner argues that the basis of competition is changing. Rivalry is shifting from well-defined industries ….

Ecosystems for Growth

Hosted by Ecosystem Specialist Dr. Annika Steiber of Menlo College this session features globally renowned….

The Power of Questions

Ecosystems are powered by questions. What if? Why? How? And also by the questions partners, colleagues and even competitors are willing ….

Ecosystems@Work

There is a lot of theory around the idea of ecosystems, but what does it actually translate to in the organizations …

Ecosystems in Homes–Delivering a Holistic Home-buying Experience

Over the past decade, the process of purchasing and owning a home has changed for most consumers. Companies have …

Ecosystems in Staffing–Leveraging Technology to Enhance the Candidate Experience

Ecosystems have long been a staple in the staffing industry, but they have taken on a new form with the introduction …

Ecosystems in Healthcare–Amplifying Whole-person Health

The healthcare industry has long consisted of ecosystems of payors, providers, and regulators in a complex web to reach …

Ecosystems in Education–Collaborating to Efficiently Serve the End User

Over the last two years, the education industry has completely transformed in favor of an ecosystems …

Ecosystems in Technology—Rewriting the Rules of Business Competition

Hosted by Claudio Garcia, president of the Outthinker Strategy Network and former chief strategy officer for …

The evolution of competitive advantage

Bestselling author, sought after speaker, and longtime Columbia Business School professor, Rita Gunther McGrath, is responsible for some …

Ecosystems in Media–Growing the Value Pie for Organizations and Consumers

Over the last ten years, major media and publishing platforms have transformed the way that consumers interact …

Leveraging Ecosystems to Build Multiple Competitive Advantages

Jonathan Knee is a Michael T. Fries Professor of Professional Practice and Co-Director of …

Integrating Ecosystems into Your Business Strategy—With a Customer-First Mindset

Tiffani Bova began her career as a sales, marketing and customer service executive …

Leadership in the 21st century: from Business CEO to Ecosystem Mayor

In the mid 2000s, when Taobao was starting to grow exponentially, Jack Ma was asked what talents were at the top of his recruiting strategy. His answer…

DISCOVERING QUANTUM MANAGEMENT

Management has been in thrall to Frederick Taylor and scientific management for over a century.  Now, a new era …

CORPORATE-STARTUP PARTNERING

With corporations under pressure to be innovative and sustainable in a complex and dynamic …

Quantum Management is Chinese Management

I want to introduce Quantum Management Theory and argue that it is, in essence, Chinese Management Theory. Quantum Management Theory, which I first …

TO BOLDLY GO

What does the arrival of a new CEO, Zhou Yunjie, mean for the innovative management philosophy of the …

THE B2B SHARING REVOLUTION

The B2B sharing revolution is under way. By sharing wisely their resources — from industrial assets to employees and clients …

Innovation ecosystems thrive by deals and perish by theatre

Every respectable organization is attending, building, or orchestrating some kind of innovation ecosystem, in order to solve complex …

Measuring corporate engagement with the startup ecosystem

How do you, as a corporate leader, react when your marketplace starts drifting …

The startup ecosystem and its impact on the business transformation of large firms

The importance of startups as a source of innovation for large companies has reached a new high- point in the context of digital …

A three step model for building ecosystems: lessons from the world’s best bank, DBS

In today’s hyperconnected world organizations cannot work in isolation and need to strive to continuously enhance their customer’s …

A framework for regeneration: from community to country-as-a-platform

In The Concept of the Corporation (1946), Peter Drucker warned us that the corporation is ‘in trouble because it is seen increasingly by more …

Dancing with Platforms

Digital platforms and their ecosystems are outgrowing all other businesses, usurping their market position, commoditizing their…

The Power of Ecosystems ebook

The Power of Ecosystems

Making sense of the new reality for organizations

Insights from the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners.

Ecosystems are the new reality for organizations of all shapes and sizes no matter where they are in the world. They make sense of a complex, tech-led world and enable individuals and organizations to maximise their resources to make an impact. The Business Ecosystem Alliance brings together organizations and individuals to capture best practice and the latest thinking on ecosystems. The Power of Ecosystems, curated by Stuart Crainer, brings together a unique and compelling collection of fresh thinking on ecosystems from experts throughout the world.

Download the book