by Published July 27, 2026 in Brain Circuits • 3 min read
Here’s the big reveal: if these features characterize the business, you do not have an ecosystem: you have simply added bolt-ons to your old business strategy.
Ecosystems provide the opportunity to regain speed, access capabilities beyond the firm, and respond to markets that no longer respect industry boundaries. However, they are easy to misunderstand and deceptively hard to lead – which is why most fail. In fact, according to research by the BCG Henderson Institute, fewer than 15% of business ecosystems are sustainable in the long term.
This is because strategies built around vertical integration, where firms seek to control more of their supply chains, are time-consuming and capital-intensive, while purely transactional partnerships lack the depth or flexibility to solve complex, interdependent problems. And while platform investments may improve efficiency, they do not necessarily change how decisions are made. By contrast, ecosystem thinking starts from the reality that value creation is already distributed.
The following features characterize a true ecosystem:
Competitive advantage increasingly depends not only on what a firm owns but on the quality of its connections. Value is created through complementarities, network effects, and shared infrastructure that no single organization fully controls. An ecosystem built for dominance will not look like one built for coordination, and one designed for rapid scale will not resemble one built for systemic resilience. Confuse those objectives and what emerges is not an ecosystem, but a compromise that satisfies no one.
Ecosystem Inc: How the nature of competition is evolving
We know that digital ecosystems drive value. But most organizations are failing to capture it
Is it the end of strategy in business ecosystems?
What Wise Leaders Understand About Business Ecosystems
Mark Greeven is Professor of Management Innovation at IMD, where he co-directs the Building Digital Ecosystems program and the Strategy for Future Readiness program, and the Future-Ready Enterprise program, which is jointly offered with MIT. Drawing on two decades of experience in research, teaching, and consulting in China, he explores how to organize innovation in a turbulent world. Greeven is a founding member of the Business Ecosystem Alliance. He is ranked on the Thinkers50 list of global management thinkers (2025, 2023).
July 23, 2026 • by Francesca-Giulia Mereu in Brain Circuits
Habits form in the basal ganglia and can resist effort – discover substitution strategies that replace old routines with productive ones at work….
July 21, 2026 • by Julia Binder in Brain Circuits
The role of the chief sustainability officer (CSO) has moved from the margins to the center of corporate strategy. Here are seven ways to harness AI to embed sustainability and drive growth….
July 16, 2026 • by Michael R. Wade in Brain Circuits
Unlock senior leaders’ competitive edge: how AI elevates decision-making, coaching, and talent management – while mitigating cognitive offloading and bias….
July 14, 2026 • by Andrea Wojnicki in Brain Circuits
Could your confidence use a boost? Identifying your ‘superpowers’ will help you develop a personal brand and flourish as a leader. Here’s how to do it….
Join us for daily exercises focusing on issues from team building to developing an actionable sustainability plan to personal development. Go on – they only take five minutes. Read more
What makes a great leader? Do you need charisma? How do you inspire your team? Our experts offer actionable insights through first-person narratives, behind-the-scenes interviews and The Help Desk. Read more
Log in here to join in the conversation with the I by IMD community. Your subscription grants you access to the quarterly magazine plus daily articles, videos, podcasts and learning exercises. Sign up
Explore first person business intelligence from top minds curated for a global executive audience