Cornerstone of future growth: Ecosystems
May 11, 2018
May 11, 2018
Every industry is susceptible to disruption by ecosystem plays. Those who aren’t ready are at risk for value degradation. More than 40 percent of companies across 20 industries—accounting for a combined enterprise value of $26 trillion—are highly susceptible to future disruption.1
Accenture Strategy surveyed 1,252 business leaders from diverse industries across the world to better understand the degree to which companies are capturing ecosystem opportunities. We found companies are pursuing new business models to navigate, or even lead, disruption.
60%
Executives surveyed who would build ecosystems to disrupt their industry.
76%
Business leaders surveyed who agree current business models will be unrecognizable in the next 5 years—ecosystems will be the main change agent.
Almost half of executives (46 percent) we surveyed said they are actively seeking ecosystems and new business models. However, executives often don’t have the experience and capabilities to design and execute market-leading ecosystems.
Accenture Strategy research shows that companies clearly see advantages in ecosystems and half of those surveyed are actively seeking them. See more.
View TranscriptMany of those we surveyed aren’t seeing the revenue growth they had predicted from ecosystem participation. While 58 percent of companies targeted a growth rate of 3-4 percent, only 40 percent are achieving it. Just 12 percent of companies are seeing growth of 5 percent or more from ecosystems.
Leading executives achieve performance targets and disrupt their industries by focusing on three major pillars as they form ecosystems:
63%
Executives who believe ecosystem participation allows businesses to innovate.
58%
Those who anticipate an increase in revenue growth from their ecosystem participation.
The executives we surveyed see a strong future in ecosystems. In the next three to five years, they believe ecosystems will create new competitive advantage (56 percent), allow them to use data and analytics to better serve customers (50 percent), create new customer experiences (46 percent), and drive innovation and disruption (44 percent). These are the steps to executing an ecosystems vision:
Having a strong and clear role in an ecosystem allows companies to pick the right teammates to make a powerful market play.
In today’s competitive business landscape, companies cannot go it alone. They need the help of partners that bring unique capabilities, data, customers and industry knowledge that can be a source of innovation. Industry leaders are recognizing the power of ecosystems—a proven construct that can drive growth.
1 Omar Abbosh, Michael Sutcliff and Vedrana Savic, “Disruption need not be an enigma,” Accenture, Accenture Disruptability Index, February 26, 2018.
2 World Economic Forum, “How to disrupt yourself,” 2016.