Forecast of the Effects of High-Gravity Firms on a Stable Business Ecosystem : An Exploratory Approach

Stable business ecosystems at times are subjected to endogenous or exogenous gravity shocks either due to emergence of high-gravity player(s) within the ecosystem, or as a consequence of entry of high-gravity player(s), respectively. In this paper, we introduce the term gravity, i.e. the density of the firm’s external interactions, to help classify the ecosystem’s participants with respect to their ability to influence the business ecosystem, and consider the effects of emergence or entry of high-gravity players on the structure, organization, and value of a pre-existing ecosystem. We approach the issue by means of exploration of two distinct instances of high-gravity entry into a business ecosystem: one instance yields the neutral effect and the other - the architecture-altering effect. The purpose of this preliminary work is to aid us in construction of a framework aimed at determination of the prerequisite endogenous conditions that influence the further strand of a business ecosystem development. The cases considered show that high-gravity entrants may either enhance or disrupt the existing ecosystem. The aim of further studies is to enable us to forecast the risks of ecosystem disruption due to entry of high-gravity firms as well as to formulate a set of managerial recommendations for intermediate ecosystem development