Maximizing Value Capture from Digital Business Ecosystems

The focus of this research in 2020 was to understand how firms create value from digital business and how much of this value they capture via greater firm performance. We learned that firms create and capture three types: value from customers, value from ecosystems, and value from operations. Understanding how to capture value from ecosystems is increasingly important for firms. A 10 percent increase in value from ecosystems yields 4.2 percentage points higher growth and 2.1 percentage points higher profitability compared to industry average.

In 2021, we will study how firms capture the most value from their digital business ecosystems. We will focus on multi-firm case studies with the following research questions:

(*) How do ecosystem drivers and modular producers increase their value capture while building fair digital partnerships?
(*) What kinds of value do these firms get from ecosystems today?
(*) How do these firms characterize valuable ecosystems and partners?
(*) What are the most important practices for effective digital partners?
(*) Which other value drivers (e.g., a digitally savvy top management team) have the most impact on value capture?

The case studies will inform questions we will develop for our 2021 global MIT CISR survey, which we will field in the second half of the year.