Aligning Ecosystem Members: Balancing Hub Control and Ecosystem Members’ Autonomy

Ecosystems are increasingly important structures for organizing economic activity and innovation. Despite their economic importance, the literature on how ecosystems align on common initiatives is, however, limited. To address these issues, this study contributes to the emerging strategic management literature on ecosystems, by examining the process with which ecosystems align members on ecosystem-level initiatives. Through a longitudinal study of an alignment process driven by a hub within an existing ecosystem structure, our research shows that the process of alignment takes place as a sequence of three distinct phases; (1) building momentum, (2) using group dynamics and (3) provoking late-adoption. Taken together, the practices that we identify seek to achieve balance between the hub’s objective for collective control and the individual ecosystem members desired autonomy. These findings, therefore, enrich our understanding of the process of alignment within ecosystems."