Developed by James F. Moore (Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition, 1993) and by Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien (The Keystone Advantage, 2004).
Treats a market as a web of interdependent firms with roles such as keystone, dominator, and niche player, so strategy weighs the health of the network a firm depends on.
When to reach for it
When a firm's results depend on partners, suppliers, or platforms, and a move that wins locally could weaken the network it relies on.
How it runs
- Map the players and what flows between them.
- Find the keystones whose loss would break the network.
- Name the role the firm plays now.
- Check that the firm's moves fit that role.
- Invest where the network's health protects the firm's position.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition, Harvard Business Review, 1993
- The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability, 2004