Symbiotic Relationships in Business Ecosystem: A Systematic Literature Review

Changhee Yoon, Seungyeon Moon and Heesang Lee
Additional contact information
Changhee Yoon: Graduate School of Management of Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Seungyeon Moon: Graduate School of Management of Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Heesang Lee: Graduate School of Management of Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The business ecosystem shares many unique features with the biological ecosystem due to its origins. Similar to the biological ecosystem, the business ecosystem also emphasizes symbiotic relationships among symbionts (i.e., participants of a business ecosystem). In this study, we have broadened and deepened our knowledge of symbiosis in a business ecosystem, focusing on how each relationship develops and evolves through the interaction between keystone species and symbionts. We have introduced the typology of symbiotic relationships and highlighted the significant role of keystone species in business ecosystems. We defined three symbiosis types based on the analysis results: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. The findings indicated that each relationship continuously transitions into different symbiotic relationships as the relationship between the participants changes. The results also showed that a keystone species, a leader of a business ecosystem, can contribute to the success of a business ecosystem by strategically managing their relationship with symbionts.

Keywords: business ecosystem; business symbiosis; symbiotic relationship; mutualism; commensalism; parasitism; business platform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2252/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2252/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:2252-:d:750740

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().