The Digital Business Ecosystem

By bringing together elements of a radical new approach to the firm based on a biological metaphor of the ecosystem, this unique book extends the limits of existing theories traditionally used to investigate business networks.

The book illustrates that like a biological system, a business ecosystem is a non-homogeneous community of entities made up of a large number of interconnected participants with different interests; they depend on each other for their mutual effectiveness and survival, and so are bound together in a collective whole. By applying this new paradigm - labelled the 'digital business ecosystem' - the book goes on to show:

• methods used by companies to compete and cooperate within their market and technological environment
• how modern businesses shape this environment through their deliberate actions and investment
• the ways in which new digital technologies feed into the environment and influence how firms and groups of firms compete and cooperate.

Combining scientific depth with a rigorous and multidisciplinary approach, the contributors to this unique work take significant steps in opening up the debate on the digital business ecosystem concept. As such, this book will prove a fascinating resource for academics with an interest in technology and innovation management, economics of innovation, and economics of technological change.