Power at the Heart of Business Ecosystem Evolution: An Integrative Meta-Synthesis

This meta-synthesis reconsiders the business ecosystem literature through a power lens and provides an integrative model of power and business ecosystem evolution. Whereas most studies adopt a learning perspective to understand business ecosystem evolution, the backdrop of power relationships against which evolution takes place is often ignored. Power influences the manner in which mutual adjustments are made that drive ecosystem evolution as well as processes of learning. Disregarding power hinders comprehension of why change does or does not happen and thus limits the ability to predict ecosystem evolution. Accordingly, accounting for power provides a more complete conceptualisation of ecosystem evolution, understanding it as actively constructed by participating actors as opposed to being prescribed. A meta-synthesis of 52 qualitative case studies reveals that actors and systems of power (1) enact power via specific sets of power practices to (2) reproduce or transform the dominant value creation and value capture of the ecosystem. The developed integrative model stipulates that ecosystem actors enact ecosystem-specific practices of power to prevent, defeat, negotiate, and impose ecosystem change. The model contributes to the literature by recasting ecosystem evolution – including both stasis and change – as the dynamic interplay between processes of power and learning.