個案總覽

Orchestrating an ecosystem requires coordination to create value, but prior research has tended to emphasize centralized ecosystem control over solutions involving distributed governance. By studying multilateral public-private collaborations to develop scientific knowledge to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease, we identify a new model of ecosystem control - indirect and distributed governance using R&D consortia. We report archival and interview data on 46 consortia with overlapping corporate, nonprofit, and governmental membership. We find three models of consortia that allow member organizations to jointly orchestrate an ecosystem without centralized control. We discuss the broader implications of this model for orchestrating ecosystems.

While open innovation ecosystems allow a firm to harness external sources of value creation, these external ties can also constrain its ability to adapt its innovation strategy to pursue new opportunities. This article looks at how an incumbent firm approached such constraints, and used cognitive artifacts to transform its value chain into a collaborative ecosystem. It examines the case of a 3D printing-enabled shift to mass customization of orthopedic medical implants. The results demonstrate how firms can use artifacts to build a shared understanding across heterogeneous stakeholders as they explore and develop new open innovation models, and how this process can be managed flexibly to avoid adopting a locally (rather than globally) optimal strategy.

Qualcomm is a digital cellular communications company specializing in code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. The company spent a number of years developing this technology and in doing so missed many opportunities in adopting the technology as a worldwide standard; however, there are still some countries that have not yet made the decision on their second generation digital standard. With its income almost solely tied to this single technology, the stakes were high for Qualcomm in getting CDMA technology adopted. Supplement to this case, Qualcomm (B), product 9B01M074 discusses the company entering the Chinese market.

This supplement to Qualcomm in China (A), product 9B01M073, highlights the company's efforts in getting code division multiple technology adopted in the rapidly growing Chinese market.