Novel Approaches to Handle Disruptions in Business Ecosystems

Today’s business world is continuously challenged by unexpected disruptive events, which are increasing in their frequency and effects. As a consequence, it is plausible to foresee future scenarios in which turbulence and instability are no longer considered as episodic crises, but rather somewhat the “norm” or the default status. This trend naturally raises the question of how organizations can strive and even gain in such disruptive environments, and which characteristics are required for combating disruptions. Resilience and antifragility are two emerging approaches to handle disruptions. Through a literature review, this paper identifies several strategies that contribute to business ecosystem’s resilience or antifragility. Furthermore, it is also shown that contributions from a number of disciplinary areas, including Collaborative Networks, Systems Thinking, Thermodynamics, Management science, and ICT, can provide complementary views and support. A set of promising examples of applications of the discussed approaches are presented and briefly analyzed. Finally, a number of open questions and directions for further research are presented.