The Ecosystem Economy

5It Takes a Village: Finding Your Place in the Ecosystem, Choosing Your Role, and Picking the Right Collaborators

As we continue our journey through the world of ecosystems, we now turn our attention from the question of where to play to the question of with whom? In the previous chapter, we gave you a framework for evolving your proposition and choosing where to play in the rapidly changing ecosystem economy. This process, you will recall, began with looking at technology and consumer trends, assessing how they will affect your proposition, and finding a way to move forward by leveraging that change. It then continued with an assessment of existing and emerging ecosystems, a sizing up of the competition, and an iterative process of continual reevaluation to account for shifting circumstances.

Now it is time to take this process one level deeper. The key questions you need to answer now are: What role should you play in the ecosystem? And which other businesses will you need to collaborate with? An ecosystem, after all, is by definition a community of interconnected businesses that work across the boundaries between traditional sectors. An important part of what makes ecosystems special, therefore, is that they thrive on connectivity. They create value through cooperation and then share that value among their different constituent parts.

So—if you can't do it on your own, where does that leave you? Who will your collaborators be? What position will you take among them? What ...