The nature of the co-evolutionary process: complex product development in the mobile computing industry's business ecosystem

A business ecosystem is a community that consists of various levels of interdependent firms which co-evolve in an ongoing cycle and constantly renew themselves. Through undertaking an in-depth, qualitative study of multinational companies in the mobile computing industry based in the Great China region, the UK and the USA, we explore the nature of the co-evolutionary process and its influence on complex product development. We find that this process consists of three domains of activity: co-vision, co-design, and co-create. We also find that each domain of activity plays a different but important role in stimulating collaborative innovation for complex product development in the mobile computing industry’s business ecosystem. We also discuss the implications for theory and future research directions.