Knowing where your Ecosystem approach “sits” relative to competitors needs a common comparable approach. You not only see where your own ecosystem is positioned but how it differs and very often being evaluated by partners and customers to understand differences to make their decisions to participate, engage or commit.
Most organizations are building or scaling ecosystems without a structured way to access whether their ecosystems are optimal or fit for growth and stress in changing market conditions.
By outlining in a short series a comparison of a selected group of Industrial giants and how they are managing their Ecosystem building you gain an understanding of what this IIBE Lens can provide.
Comparisons through the IIBE Lens for Ecosystem Opportunities
So the question here is “What the IIBE Lens reveals that Strategy reviews so often fail or miss in their assessments.” Ecosystems over time naturally build “tensions” progressively. The aim of the IIBE lens is to identify these tensions and gaps and assist management to recalibrate their Ecosystem in more dynamic ways to evolve.
Here, we are using the Intelligent & Integrated Business Ecosystem (IIBE) Lens to compare four global industrial leaders — Siemens AG, GE Vernova, Schneider Electric, and ABB — all of whom have been evaluated previously through IIBE informed analysis.
The IIBE is a diagnostic systematic approach designed to assess how well an organization is designed to operate, adapt and evolve through ecosystems, especially under changing market conditions. It seeks out tensions, gaps and opportunities that so often cannot be named but are giving cause to growing discomfort.
The intent here, in post two of this short series, is not to explain IIBE principles, but to focus on observable outcomes through what the IIBE lens offers: how each company positions its ecosystem, how attractive and usable those ecosystems are for customers and partners, the maturity of their platforms, and where gaps or constraints remain.
In today’s business environment, it has been suggested that more than 70 % of leaders struggle with ecosystem planning, understanding, or extracting value. Many initiatives stagnate in fragmentation, misaligned purpose or slow value pathways — because ecosystems are still treated as buzzwords rather than operating systems for adaptive competitive advantage.
The Integrated Interconnected Business Ecosystem (IIBE) is uniquely positioned to solve this exact problem: to help organisations diagnose their ecosystem health, implement structured pathways, and extract new value from their collaborative networks in practical, measurable ways.
Below is how each of our three principal client groups — Mature Ecosystem Leaders, Disruptors & Emerging Challengers, and Nascent/Laggards/Emerging Catalysts — we are suggesting how they should recognise the problem, what they need to value the most, and how a dedicated IIBE offering gives them confidence, coherence, and competitive edge.
A time for re-learning the Power of Ecosystems and Repositioned Platforms
There Are Times When Engineering Excellence Becomes a Constraint and that is what Energy and Industrial Leaders Are Quietly Learning About Ecosystems. They are becoming more constrained by what they have or how they operate.
Across energy and industrial markets, a paradox is emerging.
The companies best equipped to lead the next phase of the energy transition and industrial transformation — Siemens AG, Siemens Energy, Schneider Electric, ABB, GE Vernova, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — are also the ones most constrained by their own success.
They are faced with difficult decisions to be made to move their Ecosystems forward. They are all facing different levels of entrapment and need to carefully figure what it is they need to do.
Client Solutions for the Integrated Business Ecosysten (IIBE)
I am being asked how I structure my IIBE offering in a commercial structure to offer a clear pathway for potential clients. These are evolving as more modules are coming on stream or currently “in the works” as being validated.
The Key in my approach is to offer A modular, flexible commercial structure enabling tailored pathways for clients at different ecosystem maturity levels.
The designing principle of the Core Commercial Logic
The IIBE commercial model is built as a progressive pathway, allowing clients to enter at different points depending on maturity, ambition, and urgency. All offerings align to four principles: (1) Low-friction entry points (2) Capability-building progression (3) Implementation support (4) Ongoing advisory and intelligence renewal
Every module is independent but connects into a broader arc of ecosystem capability formation.
Applicable from January 2026, subject to updates and change as portfolio of offers expands.
Clearly with any pioneering framework dealing with a comprehensive approach to Business Ecosystems you are constantly asked what measurable benefits do organizations gain from IIBE adoption Let me brifly summarise what organizations gain by adopting the IIBE (Integrated Interconnected Business Ecosystem) Blueprint. There are a number of real measurable benefits: In summary, IIBE adoption translates … Read more
Siemens has announced a “new growth era,” fuelled by its One Tech ambition, disciplined capital allocation, and a sharpened portfolio. The message is “confidence with prudence” — a determination to grow, but within the lines of a proven industrial blueprint. Yet beneath this narrative lies a fundamental question: To quote from the Press Release : … Read more
Every age builds the structures that reflect how it thinks and how it values. -Factories reflected production. -Corporations reflected efficiency. -Platforms reflected connection. But the world now requires something more fluid, more human — something capable of learning and evolving with the pace of change.
That “something” is the ecosystem — not just a model, but a living network of imagination, trust, and shared intelligence. It is both an invitation and a conviction: to create together what none of us can create alone.
Connected Business Ecosystems for Impact and Value
Organizations are facing more tension than ever. They recognize ecosystems are critical but are frozen in different levels of uncertainty- be this investment fatigue, short-tern ROI pressures, internal misalignments abound, the enourmous pressure of AI and what it replaces, challenges or disrupts, and the fear of being confronted by larger scale transformation at times of economic uncertainly.
The last thing most do not want to hear is about another new comprehensive, transforming business model like the Integrated, Interconnected Business Ecosystem (IIBE) blueprint can offer. I get that but this needs to be also viewed through different eyes.
The IIBE offers a pragmatic solution staged over time. Its central premise is actually managing its orchestration, providing this progressive ecosystem alignment, enabling a shift and adaption into Ecosystems at their “given” pace and appetite.
The IIBE blueprint helps organizations to advance at their capabilities and capacities placing this integrated ecosystem thinking, into existing strategy, operations and partnerships- without requiring disruptive transformation. It works with current business models, it builds coherence across existing initiatives and reduces complexity in stages of learning and proof.
The IIBE operates as an alignment tool not intent on delivering a transformation agenda, unless it is necessary due to crisis, recognized need of how ecosystems can reconfigue new markets and competitive advantage as the necessary new competitive edge reguired.
So How Can Organizations Move Forward without those Grand Transforming EverythingApproaches?
Economic downturns force organizations to make hard choices. Budgets shrink, uncertainty grows, and risk tolerance drops. In this climate, investing in ecosystems might seem counterintuitive—but it’s actually one of the most prudent moves a forward-thinking organization can make. One of the most important needs is to look always to build resilience into all you do, Ecosystems can build that
Ecosystems—collaborative networks of partners, platforms, and shared technologies—offer a way to do more with less. They enable agility, reduce costs, and unlock new value streams. But to succeed, ecosystem investments during economic difficulty must be strategic, lean, and focused on long-term resilience.
Here’s how organizations can build ecosystem capabilities that deliver immediate value while minimizing financial exposure.
These are some general thoughts to trigger your thinking or make some of the suggested moves to shape your organization for agility and resilience through Ecosystem design and thinking. This can be the time to reshape your organizations agility and collaborative thinking.
