Business Ecosystem as the New Approach to Complex Adaptive Business Environments

Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of business ecosystem. Business ecosystem is a relatively new concept in the field of business research, and there is still a lot of work to be done to establish it. First the subject is approached by examining a biological ecosystem, especially how biological ecosystems are defined, how they evolve and how they are classified and structured. Second, different analogies of biological ecosystem are reviewed, including industrial ecosystem, economy as an ecosystem, digital business ecosystem and social ecosystem. Third, business ecosystem concept is outlined by discussing views of main contributors and then bringing authors’ own definition out. Fourth, the emerging research field of complexity in social sciences is brought out due to authors’ attitude to consider ecosystems and business ecosystems as complex, adaptive systems. The focal complexity aspects appearing in business ecosystems are presented; they are self-organization, emergence, co-evolution and adaptation. By connecting business ecosystem concept to complexity research, it is possible to bring new insights to changing business environments.