Collaboration and Competition in Business Ecosystems

The research featured in this volume is devoted to understanding the competitive and collaborative challenges that firms face as they manage interactions with different actors in dynamic environments, in what are coming to be referred to as business or innovation 'ecosystems'. Rapid technological change, globalization, and recent financial turbulence have brought us to a point where managers are painfully aware that 'no man [or firm] is an island.' Success in business, in both the profit and non-profit sectors, increasingly relies upon collaboration with upstream suppliers, alliance partners, and downstream complementors. This volume presents new findings of how innovation and value are created in collaborative networks, specifically 'ecosystem analysis' and the unique roles of individual actors within this system.