Digital technologies and innovation

Six Strategic Issues Siemens AG Must Resolve to Unlock Its Next Growth Era: Why a New Ecosystem Mindset Matters

by

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

What if your business wasn’t the unit of growth any more — but its the ecosystem you orchestrate?

by

So what if your business wasn’t the unit of growth any more — but the ecosystem you orchestrate or participate in becomes that?

I’m excited to share the IIBE – Integrated Interconnected Business Ecosystem – Blueprint, a framework built for exactly that shift.
In a world where no single organization can respond fast enough, innovate broadly enough or scale deeply enough — the competitive edge is no longer just the enterprise, it’s the ecosystem.

Why now?
Markets are moving faster than internal structures can absorb.
AI is accelerating every business-model transformation.
Sectors like sustainability, mobility, finance, healthcare — all demand collaboration at scale.


The IIBE Blueprint brings a step-change: it positions ecosystem orchestration as the strategic discipline of the 2020s.


It’s practitioner-driven. It combines structure, diagnostics, tools and pathways. AI is embedded, not optional. It’s built as a living system, evolving as partners, platforms and data expand.

Read more

The Essence and Purpose of Ecosystems in thinking, value and design

by

1. An Invitation to Renewal

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.

Read more

Organizations Can Move Forward without Transforming Everything in Ecosystem Big Bangs!

by
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 Everything Approaches?

Read more

The Mindset Shift in Business Ecosystem Thinking

by
Opening up the Mind to Connected Ecosystem thinking

During this month of September 2025 I (finally) launched my comprehensive approach to Integrated Interconnected Business Ecosystems. It has all somewhat come out in one big rush. Fifteen posts in one month (!) but I took the view this needs explaining, exploring and expanding the thinking that went into it over a long learning and research period.

Moving from a business largely based on linear thinking is really hard to master initally. It takes a real mindshift and commitment to understand the why, how along with the what and when, and then where to apply this within your business, to explore and then learn for expanding it across the organization.

Nothing happens overnight, it does take a structured learning and implementation plan. It takes a dedicated approach of learning and experimenting.

Read more

Navigating the Human Dimension of Ecosystems: A C-Level Imperative

by
Connected Business Ecosystems, overcoming the Human Dimensions

There is immense strategic value, real growth potential, and significant competitive advantages that pioneering ecosystem companies like Apple, Amazon, John Deere and Siemens have achieved. We’ve seen the trillions in value generated and the market dominance secured by the adoption of unique Ecosystem designs turning into robust Business Models.

However, the journey to becoming an ecosystem leader is not merely a technological or financial one. It’s fundamentally a leadership journey that requires navigating significant human and organizational dimensions. This is where many companies stumble, not because they lack the vision, but because they fail to prepare for the inevitable impact on their people, their culture, and their ingrained ways of operating.

Let’s address the ‘elephants in the room’:

Read more

Are Business Ecosystems Being Overtaken, Facing the New Realities

by
Building Strong Business Ecosystems for the Future

I recently got into a chat exchange between Google Gemini and myself on the present and future of Business Ecosystems. So editing this down into two major points

Firstly “why our old structures are no longer good enough” and then “are business ecosystems being overtaken?”

I worry more over the second question on the view of “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. – Wayne Gretzky as within my advisory role it is necessary to anticipate movements in the business world to predict its future trajectory and be in the right place at the right time or at least try too!

So within our exchanges the realities and reassurances come out. Let me share these:

Read more

Evolving to my focus on the Business Ecosystem story

by
Building Strong Business Ecosystems

Recently I have been reflecting and giving a new focus on my journey on Business Ecosystems. On this dedicated web site ecosystems4innovating.com I have traveled from my initial emphasis on the platform and the technology parts, increasingly recognizing and moving towards building over these past few years, the business ecosystem story and understanding needed. I have evolved my thinking from over 200 plus posts published as this evolving journey to lead up to today and my current opinion. The future promises to be exciting-

Let me summarize this on a current state of Ecosystem play, as it forms the basis of where I go forward in the continued development of Business Ecosystems and why I see these as significant in value to any business searching for new growth, different impact points and recognizing the value of collaborating within networks of ecosystems to accelerate their offerings, making these more resilient and sustaining.

Read more

Why Business Ecosystems are highly valuable to think through.

by
Thinking through Business Ecosystems

Business ecosystems have grown in real importance for me to focus upon. Alone on this site I have written around 200 plus posts that relate to ecosystems and platforms since 2016 when I started separating my innovation thinking with this business ecosystem one.

Today, I have turned full circle, there is a need for merging these back but into innovation ecosystems for one and business ecosystems for the other, to explain different essential value parts..

Having an ecosystem-centric approach has growing advantages to navigate complexity and strive towards a new level of sustaining growth and impact.

Designing Ecosystems for collaboration, co-creation and extending your business out in radically different ways needs thinking through. It has become essential for the sustainable future tacking more complex and challenging issues

Let me provide some thoughts on this:

Read more

Thinking and Designing for Business Ecosystems

by
Thinking & designing Business Ecosystems to build innovation differently

Why should we think about the potential within Business Ecosystems? What does thinking and designing for Business Ecosystems mean?

Thinking and designing for business ecosystems represents a fundamental shift in how we approach business strategy, innovation, and value creation. Let me break this down for you in a way that bridges conceptual understanding with practical application. Two statements:

  1. Thinking and designing for business ecosystems means adopting a holistic, interconnected view of business operations and strategy.
  2. Thinking and designing for Business Ecosystems is about recognizing that in today’s complex business environment, no company is an island. Success increasingly depends on a company’s ability to collaborate, co-create, and thrive within a network of diverse stakeholders.

Read more