Risk Management of External Resources in Digital Ecosystems

Participation in digital ecosystems entails the use of externally provided resources such as data, computing capabilities and digital functionalities. Though in many ways useful, these also create dependencies between organizations and pose them to risks that they have little direct control. The question that emerges is how to manage these type of ecosystem risks, which evolve from the digital dependencies created by the digital interconnections between ecosystem actors. By interviewing relevant personnel from companies participating to digital ecosystems and thus utilizing externally provided digital resources, the research evaluates to what extent existing risk management approaches can be utilized to address ecosystem risks. The research finds that risk management in ecosystems rests more upon rationalization than concrete actions to address risks. It further suggests more collective responses to managing ecosystem risks and, among others, highlights the use of alliances of ecosystem resource-takers to counter ecosystem risks.