Systematic Success

Companies can meet the challenge of disruptive innovation by adopting a new “ecosystem” strategy, says Professor Peter Williamson.

Companies can meet the challenge of disruptive innovation by adopting a new “ecosystem” strategy that attracts a wide range of partners that help all parties innovate and grow, says a new book, Ecosystem Edge, by Professor Arnoud De Meyer of Singapore Management University and Professor Peter Williamson of Cambridge Judge Business School.

Managers need to leave old “command and control” approaches behind in favour of a strategy of boosting learning and innovation by attracting collaborators to strengthen their network, says the book to be published on 14 April by Stanford University Press.

To profit, such ecosystem creators need to establish efficient “tollgates” to collect revenues when partners tap a “keystone” contribution of the ecosystem leader – the way that Cambridge-based chip designer ARM collects royalties or license fees from the 90 per cent of mobile phones globally that use its power-saving chip designs.