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There is a knowledge gap regarding the determinants of open innovation processes and outcomes in a joint value creation context, as well as what role artificial intelligence (AI) and data management play in facilitating open innovation processes. One strategy to better understand joint value creation through open innovation, supported by AI and data management, is to conduct studies on the digital business ecosystem (DBE). The purpose of this paper is to improve our current knowledge of this urgent issue in contemporary management through the lens of an ecosystem-based theory by conducting an empirical study on two DBEs (called ecosystem micro-communities (EMCs)), developed by Haier, as well as multiple literature reviews on the key concepts “Haier EMC” and “digital business ecosystem”.

By building on multiple literature reviews and empirical data from a multi-year and ongoing research program driven by Haier, this study examines Haier’s EMC model for AI-driven DBEs. Secondary data were collected through iterative literature reviews on DBEs, the EMC concept and the two selected EMC cases. The empirical data were collected through a qualitative study of two Haier EMCs in China.

Haier's ecosystem micro-community concept represents a radical shift towards a more flexible, responsive and innovative cross-industry organizational structure, offering valuable lessons for business leaders and scholars. Haier’s ecosystem micro-community model, part of their RenDanHeYi philosophy and here viewed as a DBE, is a pioneering management concept that not only redefines the management of the firm and the traditional corporate structure, but also the traditional view on innovation management, business strategy, human resource management and marketing (customer centricity). The concept has therefore an important and big impact on traditional management. For scholars, the gap in understanding innovation processes in open business ecosystems is addressed by the concept. However, the concept also opens new areas for academic research, particularly in innovation management, business strategy, human resource management and marketing. The concepts further encourage more interdisciplinary research.

The DBE is a relatively new research area that will need more research. While the EMC model is promising as an effective version of a DBE, its effectiveness across different industries and organizational cultures needs to be explored further. Future research should investigate its applicability and impact in diverse business environments. To understand the EMC’s long-term impact, longitudinal studies are needed. These should focus on the sustained competitive advantages, potential market disruptions and the evolution of customer value propositions over time. Finally, considering increasing concerns about data privacy and security, future research should also explore how DBEs solve the issue of data protection and IP while promoting open innovation and value sharing.

For managers and practitioners, the EMC concept could inspire leaders to learn how to foster innovation by creating smaller, autonomous teams that can respond quickly to market changes in the form of a DBE. The concepts exemplify how value creation and capture could be enhanced for any company and even could be a new strategy in the company’s digital transformation and repositioning into a more competitive, high-end player on the market. The concept also emphasizes employee empowerment and ownership, which can lead to higher job satisfaction and retention rates. The concept can further improve companies’ adaptability and resilience by decentralizing decision-making. Finally, the micro-communities allow businesses to be more customer-centric, developing products and services that better meet specific customer needs.

The social implications could be positive, as complex social problems commonly need an ecosystem approach to develop and deliver impactful solutions. In addition, Haier’s ecosystem micro-community model seems inherently scalable and culturally adaptable.

Haier’s EMC model is well-known in the research literature and is a novel approach to DBEs, which has been proven successful and replicable in different countries and industries. Providing insights from multiple literature reviews and two unique Haier EMC cases will contribute to a better understanding of highly effective data- and AI-driven business ecosystems, as well as of determinants of open innovation processes and outcomes in a joint value creation context, as well as what role AI and data management play in facilitating open innovation processes.

This study aims to investigate the impact of an institutionalized market context on platform ecosystem development. It studies how platform ecosystems are set up and evolve in the asset management industry and explores the role of the platform leader and selected core network partners in unleashing value innovation notwithstanding institutional barriers. A problematization lens is used to identify deviations between the management practices in this industry setting and the prescriptions and suggested practices in the extant literature on platform ecosystem development.

The research follows a retrospective longitudinal single-case design focusing on the development of a new platform ecosystem to which several PaaS initiatives are linked. It is based on 13 in-depth interviews over a one-year period triangulated with documentation and member checks. This study identifies the impact of regulations and norms on the early stages of platform ecosystem development.

In this institutionalized market, intensified interactions between carefully selected strategic market players focusing on platform development, lead to growing value innovation initiatives. The collaboration between core actors evolves “under the radar” with select partners and with lots of controls by incumbents. The value innovation process evolves in a non-disruptive way. Initially, the new value initiatives are rather incremental and focus on optimizing the present business models while slowly adding new peripheral services shared as successful signs of value innovation initiatives. This “submerged” direction enables platform actors to gather critical mass and stimulates co-evolution with key players.

This paper outlines one vertical and looks at various principles involved during early stages of platform development. Because the authors have chosen a deep dive into one institutionalized setting, future studies could investigate a broader scope of institutionalized settings/verticals and a broader scope of management stages and related practices to replicate the study and corroborate the findings. The idea raised from hybrid platform ecosystem development also warrants further study.

Practitioners in institutionalized business-to-business markets find suggestions on how to overcome institutional barriers to platform ecosystem development and this study shows which levers can be used by core actors of ecosystems to strengthen established business models and simultaneously unleash value innovation initiatives.

This study contributes to the understanding of the challenges to be faced when setting up and expanding platform ecosystems in a highly institutionalized setting and identifies “levers” to create a smooth flow and snowball effect for platform ecosystem development. It “fine-tunes” the extant literature on platform ecosystem development to institutionalized markets.

In this paper, the editors argue that management accounting research should seek to expand to examine the broader ecosystem of information sources that influence organizational performance. The editors introduce the concept of the management accounting ecosystem as a means of linking discrete management accounting research topics to the broader environment in which organizations operate. By doing this, a stronger connection can be established between management accounting research and management accounting practice. The goal is to encourage more cross-disciplinary research that provides a better understanding of the ecosystem in which management accounting practitioners operate. The editors encourage researchers to submit studies to “Advances in Management Accounting” that evaluate the effectiveness of new management accounting information sources and the techniques used to analyze them in the broader ecosystem to enhance the effectiveness of management accounting practices. By exploring the wider information sources within the management accounting ecosystem, future management accounting research can become more innovative and better address the decision-making needs of organizational members.

The purpose of this study is to develop an ecosystem-based DRR concept and explore how far the concept can be applied in a disaster-management context.

The authors used the ecosystem concept established by Tsujimoto et al. (2018) as the foundation of this study. They then conducted a literature search to adapt the ecosystem concept to fit the context of disaster management. Thus, they developed an ecosystem-based DRR concept. They used a case study method to test whether the adapted ecosystem concept can be applied to examine a real-life case of disaster management. For data collection, they used qualitative methods; a semi-structured interview with practitioners and other actors involved in disaster-management practice as well as document review. For data analysis, they used thematic analysis to find themes within the data.

By using this concept, the authors found some actors fulfil their role in the ecosystem toward the DRR effort, some actors are ill-equipped, and some actors are actively working against DRR effort. There are also implementation challenges, as numerous programs are only halfway done due to a lack of resources. However, the main problems of this disaster can be summarized into three categories: technical problems, socio-economic problems and law-enforcement problems. All three problems need to be addressed altogether because even neglecting only one problem would lead to a flawed solution.

One of the limitations is the respondents' bias. This research aims to find out their part, or more accurately what they are representative of, regarding disaster management for forest and land fire case. As some of the questions may reveal unflattering action or may even hurting their credibility, respondents might not have provided an entirely honest answer. Another limitation is the differing respondents' roles within the disaster. As each of the respondents is a representative of an actor in disaster management, they all have different traits. Thus, this situation makes it challenging to produce similar quality and quantity data for each of them.

As concluded, the ecosystem-based DRR concept can be used as a framework to examine a real-life case of disaster management. It can be utilized to explain roles, relationships and the whole network of disaster-management actors. The authors hope that this concept could help decision-makers in designing their policies.

The main problems of this disaster can be summarized into three categories: technical problems, socio-economic problems and law-enforcement problems. All three problems need to be addressed altogether for even neglecting only one problem would lead to a flawed solution. However, the yearly reoccurrences of fires and the widespread of illegal and dangerous practice, slash and burn agriculture, are evidence that the government mishandles the other two problems. There is a need for reform within legal institutions and government's treatment regarding local farmers. There is a need for trust, cooperation and synergy between disaster-management actors.

The ecosystem concept has been used widely in the field of management of technology and innovation. However, while ecosystem concept is commonly used in the management of technology and innovation, it is rarely used in a disaster-management context.

A shift in supply management is underway. Nonlinear connections of buyers and sellers in business ecosystems challenge conventional supply management practice. Digital technologies and network connectivity lower the costs of connecting and collaborating with loosely related external parties. This paper aims to explore how this challenges conventional purchasing and supply management (PSM) practice.

This paper builds on the extended case research method. It is based on a theoretical conceptualization, which is explored through a case study.

The authors find that both supply management’s contribution to value creation, value appropriation and collaborative interfaces change with the emergence of multifaceted business systems.

The paper is developed within a specific industrial context, and the findings are not directly transferrable to other contexts. However, the authors believe that on an analytical level, there is value in transferring the insights into other manufacturing contexts.

Managers must challenge the taken-for-granted thinking that follows from linear supply management practices and start rehearsing the role of PSM when dealing with supplies from business ecosystem lead firms.

This research takes up a novel issue, highly relevant for PSM practitioners as well as for theory. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, nothing has been written about the colliding business logics of conventional PSM and that of business ecosystems.

This article investigates the practical implementation of the ecosystem approach in different branches of public management within an urban context. It explores how ecosystem thinking is introduced, disseminated and applied in a local government organization.

We utilize a qualitative case study methodology, relying on official documents and expert interviews. Our study focuses on the city of Espoo, Finland, which has actively embraced ecosystem thinking as a fundamental framework for its organizational development for almost a decade.

The case of Espoo highlights elements that have not been commonly attributed to the ecosystem approach in the public sector. These elements include (1) the significance of complementary services, (2) the existence of both collaborative and competitive relationships among actors in public service ecosystems and (3) the utilization of digital platforms for resource orchestration. Our study also emphasizes the need for an incremental adoption of ecosystem thinking in organizational contexts to enable its successful implementation.

The study provides valuable insights into the introduction and dissemination of ecosystem thinking in public management. It also further develops previously developed hypotheses regarding public service ecosystems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of employing knowledge management (KM) as a framework for understanding how public managers perform ecosystem management. The question of how public managers in Seoul acquire, utilize and share knowledge in managing their ecosystems has been responded to by offering a particular conceptual model.

This study applies the grounded theory method to build a conceptual model. The model is generated by applying the concept of knowledge process to an investigation of how the urban ecosystem is publicly managed by civil servants in various offices within the municipality of Seoul, Korea. The case study encompasses the management of the 12 regions of Seoul designated as Eco-scenery Preservation Regions (ESPRs) by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The knowledge process of public managers in managing the ESPRs can be explained by understanding the conceptual model of “learning-by-doing,” which means public managers cannot count much on their knowledge gained previously through their past experience or education and training. Instead, they learn individually in the process of discharging their duties on a daily basis.

Although the focus is on the knowledge process of public managers, there is no escaping the fact that managerial activities are not performed in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in a complex policy and government context that is not easily captured as the important variables that influence the knowledge process. Thus, it would be worthwhile to extend this study with group, intra-, and extra-organizational-level analyses.

Usually different contexts lead to different interpretations on the concept of learning-by-doing. This study supplies such an interpretation that diverse ecosystems in Seoul have been managed by the learning-by-doing of public managers, which is characterized specifically as their reactive response, tinkering and limited personal network.

There has not been a definite consensus on the question of what ecosystem management is. Scientists, policymakers and citizens all have different viewpoints on that question. Nonetheless, this study provides a useful perspective on the issue of how various ecosystems have been managed by public managers, who must be a central entity of ecosystem management particularly under the context of municipality.

Even though KM has been a popular subject of study in business management rather than public management, KM as a framework of study is promising as a means of understanding and potentially supporting the further development of effective ecosystem management by public managers.

The purpose of this study is to develop a stakeholder management ecosystem, which is an improved concept of stakeholder management practices implemented in organizations. The approach is to strategically manage, monitor and assess stakeholders' involvement efficiently during the various stages of the project. The paper aims to structure and organize the stakeholder management ecosystem concept, which would enhance working standards by gaining support and healthy interest of stakeholders in the ever-changing and increasing complex business environment.

A theoretical framework study is incorporated on the secondary data of stakeholder management, engagement and assessment. The conceptual insights are drawn for the comprehensive framework of 4Ps (project, people, process and promoting participation) to establish a stakeholder management ecosystem.

The findings expand the understanding and importance of efficient stakeholder management practices through a stakeholder management ecosystem concept. The implementation of efficient practices can exert a significant effect on the project outcome and organizational goals. Thus, these practices should be assessed and altered according to changing situations and dynamics at the various stages of the project.

The paper contributes to the literature on stakeholder management. First, it holds organizational and managerial implications to efficiently channelize stakeholder resources to maximize the output of the project and the performance of an organization. Second, managing people associated with an organization formally or informally can not only draw their interest, trust and involvement but also can develop further scope and vision of growth and development.

The philosophy behind the concept is social cooperation and value creation. The more the people are engaged with the organization, the more will be the organizational support and well-being in the community as it broadens the pool of people involved, both inside and outside the organization.

The paper advances the practices of stakeholder management and organization management by introducing the ecosystem concept, 4Ps framework and assessment matrix. The ecosystem concept can be used to develop value and explore the potential of each person associated with an organization and further develop a functional relationship. The 4Ps framework is a structured and flexible approach to ease the process of understanding, analyzing, evaluating and involving stakeholders. The assessment matrix supports the evaluation of the incorporated strategy and further decision-making for the project by gauging project performance and stakeholder involvement.

Ecosystem management has emerged as a preferred, and often, mandated approach to managing ecological systems. However, this comes with much debate because of the complexity in its applicability and feasibility due to political, economic, social, cultural, and ecological factors. This chapter outlines the evolving nature of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), and provides an insight on the future direction.

The watershed approach is recognized as a holistic approach to ecosystem management. The chapter examines the concept of watershed as an ecosystem in relation to ecosystem management, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. It describes the importance of watersheds in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. It specifically looks at the watershed approach and provides some case studies showing the important role of communities in watershed management. Moreover, it discusses some incentive schemes in managing watersheds.