Foundations of Ecosystems

The second chapter introduces complementarity and modularity as the key characteristics of ecosystems. The first section presents complementarity as a mechanism that triggers firms to move from value chains to business ecosystems. It explores different types of complementarities and their potential to build ecosystems on them, with a specific focus on the role of complementors—highlighting both the benefits and potential drawbacks of complementarities. The second section introduces the concept of modularity and discusses how to achieve it effectively. The last section delineates the necessary conditions in terms of complementarity and modularity that must be fulfilled for ecosystems to emerge.