The Translucent Hand of Managed Ecosystems: Engaging Communities for Value Creation and Capture
Top Cited Papers
- 1 January 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Academy of Management in Academy of Management Annals
- Vol. 16 (1), 70-101
- https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2020.0244
Abstract
Management research has increasingly explored the domains of ecosystems, platforms, and open/user/distributed innovation - governance structures focused on engaging with external communities. While these research areas include substantial empirical and theoretical work and share notable similarities, the literature streams have evolved separately limiting our ability to understand underlying mechanisms and dynamics. We comprehensively review these distinct literatures to highlight commonalities and induce novel insights. We introduce the overarching concept of the managed ecosystem governance structure through which an organization engages external communities for value creation and capture such that the locus of activity resides outside organizational boundaries while the locus of control remains within the organization. It represents a translucent hand between the invisible hand of the market and visible hand of the organizational hierarchy. Because the extant literature only lightly addresses incumbent organizations transitioning to these models and rarely touches upon those operating with multiple governance structures simultaneously, we further review and synthesize research on organizational adaptation and ambidexterity. From this integrative review, we identify capabilities to execute managed ecosystems including shepherding communities without exploiting them, managing data and intellectual property, ecosystem-driven open adaptation, and ambidextrous governance. We additionally present opportunities for future research across these research domains.Keywords
This publication has 224 references indexed in Scilit:
- Managing contracts for fairness in buyer–supplier exchangesStrategic Management Journal, 2013
- Perspectives on Innovation ProcessesAcademy of Management Annals, 2013
- Towards an open R&D system: Internal R&D investment, external knowledge acquisition and innovative performanceResearch Policy, 2013
- Are network effects really all about size? The role of structure and conductStrategic Management Journal, 2012
- Coordinating and competing in ecosystems: How organizational forms shape new technology investmentsStrategic Management Journal, 2012
- Crowdsourcing As a Solution to Distant SearchAcademy of Management Review, 2012
- Institutional Complexity and Organizational ResponsesAcademy of Management Annals, 2011
- The Role of Participation Architecture in Growing Sponsored Open Source CommunitiesIndustry and Innovation, 2008
- Doing versus seeing: acts of exploitation and perceptions of explorationStrategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2008
- Pricing and commitment by two-sided platformsThe RAND Journal of Economics, 2006