Prospects of developing business ecosystems: competition, cooperation, specialization

Objective: based on the analysis of modern ecosystems, to determine the promising forms of their dissemination.Methods: abstract-logical research method, methods of information analysis and synthesis were used in the study.Results: in the recent years, ecosystems have been actively developed in management practice. Despite the constant growth of their number, the phenomenon itself has been studied rather poorly, without a clear legal and organizational structure. This article analyzes the theoretical and practical aspects of the implementation of various scenarios for the formation and functioning of ecosystems; their promising options are identified. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, the main approaches to the study of ecosystems are identified: technological, product, and as a set of companies. The Russian practice of ecosystem organization was analyzed, on which basis the key features of ecosystems were identified, distinguishing them from traditional business models. A comprehensive review of the relationships between the constituent elements of the ecosystem was carried out, regarding its partners, stages of formation and specific management methods, and interactions with competitors. The main approaches to the organization of interaction within ecosystems – totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic – were studied. The peculiarities of the organization of competition and partnership of ecosystems with other market participants were also considered. Based on the practice of merging ecosystems, the prospects for the development of mega-ecosystems were determined.Scientific novelty: as a result, a number of approaches to the development of ecosystems in an extensive and intensive aspect were identified. Standard expansion options based on mergers and acquisitions of other enterprises typical of classical companies can be supplemented by interactions of several ecosystems within the framework of common projects and their joint formation. It is determined that the formation of highly specialized ecosystems is a more rational way of their development than the processes of merging and absorption of ecosystems. The scientific novelty also lies in the application of the analysis of internal and external forms of interaction in ecosystems to identify promising forms of development in new sectors of the economy.Practical significance: it consists in offering an original approach to the formation of ecosystem companies, as well as the possibility of creating a combination of a number of services based on a virtual ecosystem.