A Brand-New Look at the Business Ecosystem – Conceptualizing the B2B Clip-Out Perspective
(A2023-113161)

AUTHORS

Selina Strobel, Toulouse School of Management; Lars Meyer-Waarden, Toulouse School of Management Research -CNRS University Toulouse 1 Capitole; Marc Kuhn, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart

ABSTRACT

Dynamic changes and megatrends, such as the climate crisis and digitalization, are exerting sig-nificant pressure on companies in a wide range of sectors. Due to their unique position in the value-chain, that we refer to as “forward-backward integration”, B2B companies are exponen-tially more affected than end-customer oriented companies. Research on these unique specifics, however, is scarce. We offer a new perspective drawing on the concept of business ecosystems (BES). In particular, we apply a B2B clip-out perspective comprising all B2B relationship and transaction structures within a BES. Before contributing to a conceptualization of this clip-out, we, however, miss foundational research on structural BES criteria. Therefore, this paper offers two consecutive contributions: First, a characterization of the general BES including a derivation of distinctive criteria. Second, a conceptualization of the B2B clip-out perspective. Our method-ological approach is based on a systematic literature review consisting of a bibliometric review and an inductive qualitative analysis.