Development of Value Propositions for Ecosystem Initiatives : a Qualitative Analysis
Year: 2022
Type: dissertation
Abstract: A customer-centric approach to innovation and product development is considered state of the art today. At the same time, new technologies, data and merging industry boundaries are opening up new opportunities and making customers even more demanding. As a result, some individual companies are no longer able to adequately address these increased customer needs. Instead, partners with complementary capabilities and resources are leveraged to drive joint value creation. Often an ecosystem is formed as a specific way for partners to collectively create value. Ecosystems are an association of at least three partners who contribute complementary modules in order to jointly create a superior value proposition. There are different types of complementarity in ecosystems. By creating value propositions together, companies can achieve the next level of customer orientation. Value propositions are the core of the ecosystem and are developed for the customer. Yet at the same time, the partners who contribute the complementary modules that form the joint value proposition cannot be managed hierarchically. Therefore, the development of the value proposition is very coordination intensive. Within the relevant, contemporary topic of ecosystems, the question of how to develop value propositions for ecosystem initiatives has not yet been adequately addressed. This thesis addresses this gap with two qualitative multi case studies, one at the strategic level, the other at the operational level. From these two studies, four archetypes of value propositions in ecosystem strategies emerge at the strategic level, resulting from different combinations of complementarities. The determining factor is the intensity of market competition. On the operational level, four approaches for the materialization of the value proposition emerge. Depending on the complementarity, these approaches differ according to the intensity with which partners and customers are to be involved in the development process. Thus, on the one hand, this work contributes to the ecosystem literature focusing on the development of the value proposition and, on the other hand, it helps practitioners by illuminating the core challenges and procedures of the respective strategies and approaches.
Author: Seeholzer, Veronika
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7036899415