Business Expansion and Market Multiplication through Strategic Ecosystem Orientation

There have been scores of companies that fumbled and faltered in launching new products while few others were able to dexterously handle such initiatives successfully and commercially. A detailed study of several such case studies across time and space in the global business history reveals few common patterns of strategic action or inaction and their timeliness that led to their commercial success or failure. One such is a firm’s sensitivity to its larger ecosystem. Firms that have been sensitive to their ecosystem have been able to time their new product launches in such a fashion that planned synchronization of the product and its complements would happen much to the benefit of these firms. This could happen broadly in three ways. One thing could be that the firm itself comes up with its complements taking the total onus on itself. The other option could be taking the prospective partners into confidence by providing them financial or marketing support. The last option could be patiently waiting for such an ecosystem to evolve. The first two options make more practical sense than the third option. This paper attempts synthesize wisdom from a bunch of case studies panning diverse industries in terms of theoretical discussion. There are limitations to such studies in terms of generalizability. However, given the diverse nature of case studies across space and time, this paper provides a solid canvas for theory-building and further research.