What is a business ecosystem?

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The term ecosystem comes from nature and the definition according to wikipedia is:

"Ecosystems are functional units consisting of living things in a given area, non-living chemical and physical factors of their environment, linked together through nutrient cycle and energy flow."  And: "The entire array of organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem is called a community."

Wikipedia refers to  James Moore who defined "business ecosystem" as:

“An economic community supported by a foundation of interacting organizations and individuals—the organisms of the business world. The economic community produces goods and services of value to customers, who are themselves members of the ecosystem. The member organisms also include suppliers, lead producers, competitors, and other stakeholders. Over time, they coevolve their capabilities and roles, and tend to align themselves with the directions set by one or more central companies. Those companies holding leadership roles may change over time, but the function of ecosystem leader is valued by the community because it enables members to move toward shared visions to align their investments, and to find mutually supportive roles.”

One can have long debates whether or not these definitions are complete, correct and still up-to-date, but for me they look excellent.

What strikes me in this definition is the notion of the the "ecosystem leader".  I will sometimes refer to an inter-mediator as the organization that enables close cooperation between different parties in the ecosystem, often based on a shared platform.  More about that in later posts...