Dr Florian Urmetzer, Senior Research Associate, Cambridge Service Alliance talks about his new paper: The Ecosystem Value Framework: Supporting Managers to Understand Value Exchange between Core Businesses in Service Ecosystems. The paper is co-authored with Veronica Martinez and Andy Neely.
Why in 2017 measuring value exchange in your ecosystems is a powerful analytical tool for managers
Dr Urmetzer key quotes: “If two organisations work together in a B2B world there is always an exchange of value. There is a direct value but there is always an indirect value if they work in the same ecosystem. The two companies are actually creating value for each other, one may capture value and the other one may create value for them, there is an exchange. If I invite you to work with me as a multinational then you as a manager get an internal kudos from this – there may be some form of value that has nothing to do with me working directly with you in the first place. It has nothing to do with the value exchange between our two companies but it still has something where you get some form of value out of it internally. Then for the organisation and the manager there will also be some form of strategic longer term impact – I may bring you some technology which is new to you. I may mitigate or increase a risk and this may guide our interactions. If I use a phrase that shows I can mitigate risk, there is an indirect value exchange. These exchanges may be part of an informal larger complex ecosystem….
“If suddenly you start to understand the real value you are contributing in an ecosystem in the first place the way you can phrase that offering within an ecosystem changes as well. You can either ask for more money because you know that you are doing something which no-one else can do or you may be working more efficiently between companies. This is important because in today’s world relationships get more complex as companies work across companies and with multiple companies to build products and service offerings within these products.”
Dr Urmetzer ends by saying: “Feedback has been very positive, and it has been quite a journey really, it is a powerful tool. “