New Business Models Based Ecosystems and Corporate Performance

Ecosystems, digital platforms, marketplaces - many companies have been created (including giants like Amazon and Apple) and are now being created on these business models. Is it possible to identify the distinctive characteristics of these business models and compare them with companies without ecosystems? Is there an optimal set of key business model attributes? Is there a connection between business model characteristics and financial performance? The study analyzes 31 North American firms. The data were prepared with help of content analysis and binary coding. The gathered data is analyzed with cluster analysis techniques. The clustering process and the analysis of financial performance allows us to draw the following conclusions: the more successful the business model of the marketplace the more significantly it demonstrates the ecosystem features; clusterization approach can be implemented for a classification of business models of broad range of firms; a set of attributes has been identified that have a beneficial effect on the financial performance of the company. Research presented a comprehensive approach for identifying the ecosystem and non-ecosystem business models, for classification of business models and complete performance analysis in comparison with other types of business models both ecosystem-based and non-ecosystem. The proposed approach provides valuable insight for marketplaces but also opens a way for further analysis of any type of ecosystem-based business models.