You asked, We Answered: Questions on Ecosystems with Dartmouth’s Ron Adner

Drop in on the chat portion of last week’s Friday Fireside Chat with Dartmouth Professor Ron Adner, in which we discuss the concepts from his new book, “Winning the Right Game: How to Disrupt, Defend and Deliver in a Changing World.” Here are responses to the questions that came through on the chat.

Ron Adner’s latest book is chock a block full of concepts, frameworks, and examples that lead you to rethink the taken for granted assumptions about what happens in business, by looking through an ecosystem lens. For instance, why is TomTom still a viable business in light of Google and Apple literally giving away for free what generated all their revenue? Why did Spotify have to trim back its plans to become an intermediary between artists and audience? Why was Lexmark, a printing company, able to survive the decimation of the printing business? Why did Satya Nadella put Microsoft in the position of being a valued partner when that eluded Steve Ballmer? Read on to explore some of the questions asked by our audience.

Defining an ecosystem and the threats within it

Question: How do you define an ecosystem, in your words and experience?

This is described in detail in Chapter 1 of the book, which you can download for…