Learn in the textbookLeveraging External Resources and Inter-Company Collaboration
DefinitionAn ecosystem (エコシステム) is a network of interdependent businesses in which many companies and users create value together around a core product or platform (プラットフォーム).
ExplanationThe term borrows the image of living things in nature that are linked together and keep a whole forest alive. Rather than one company supplying everything, the products and services of each participant connect and make the whole more attractive. The more participants join, the more valuable the platform becomes, which in turn tends to draw in still more participants.
AnalogyIt is like a town square where more food stalls draw more people, and more people draw still more stalls.
Memory hookThe eco- in ecosystem comes from the Greek word for "house".