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Sign upOn ecosystems and egos
The customer-driven world does not revolve around what CEOs want. What are the implications of being interconnected?
Ecosystems are not a fad or a sexy buzzword. They reflect a true paradigm shift in business. They are a genuinely new organisational form: fluid networks of organisations combining to deliver bundles of products and services in new and unfamiliar ways. And just like the step from single- to multi-cell organisms in nature, they represent a profound evolutionary shift.
Ecosystems have both enabled and resulted from big changes in the ways we consume and produce. Who would have imagined, even a few years ago, that you would be able to buy coffee with a phone, or ask your stereo or your fridge to order groceries?
As technology and regulatory change blur the boundaries between products and services, producers and consumers, organisations and markets, it no longer makes sense to think in terms of traditional industrial sectors and categories. Business ambition, strategy, organisational behaviour and policy will all need a rethink.
So the hype about ecosystems is justified, but their complexity brings challenges. Some of these are becoming clearer: recent academic research maps out what ecosystems look like, a joint project with BCG explores the myths and realities around them, and a WEF White Paper sets out the basic rules of the game and the major strategic implications.
Where do people come into the picture? One of the biggest challenges for leaders in this unfamiliar new world will be to reimagine themselves and how they relate to the world around them.
Adapting to a new world order
Humans have always thought of themselves as the bright centre of the universe, with other individuals and institutions ranged in near or distant orbits around us. For CEOs of large companies, that may be even more true. In a dog-eat-dog world, you don’t get to the top without ambition, self-confidence and a sense that you deserve to be in control.
Unfortunately, managing in ecosystems requires very different qualities – perhaps even a new set of corporate leaders. This is the result of new demands placed on organisations, and those who manage them.
