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This paper examines the role of complementors in leading ecosystem transformation. With a focus on the shipbuilding ecosystem as a case study, we explore how complementors navigate the digitalization process within latent ecosystems. While the shipbuilding ecosystem comprises autonomous actors fulfilling complementary roles in ship production, the ongoing digitalization efforts present opportunities for transformative change. Drawing on the emergent nature of the case, we investigate the leadership and complementor dynamics shaping ecosystem transformation. By delving into these dynamics, we aim to offer insights into the leadership strategies employed by complementors and their impact on ecosystem evolution. Our study contributes to the broader discourse on ecosystem studies by addressing the overreliance on materialized ecosystems and retrospective studies, while also shedding light on the role of complementors as drivers of ecosystem transformation.

This paper analyses the collective orchestration of an emerging ecosystem within the maritime industry. Orchestration is typically conceptualised as a process driven by a single focal firm that does so by controlling a platform, technology, resource or knowledge. This paper analyses a case of collective orchestration, where a group of firms jointly establish an ecosystem vision and implement activities towards its realisation. This paper contributes to the literature on ecosystem orchestration with a process model on collective orchestration that explains how a collective orchestrates an emerging ecosystem and simultaneously coordinates its internal activities to maintain cohesion. Thus, the paper complements current understandings of ecosystem orchestration and leadership. The process model was developed through the longitudinal analysis of a case using an abductive approach, iteratively moving between data analysis and drawing on prior literature on ecosystem orchestration and collective action theory.

The development and implementation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) promises to positively impact the maritime transportation industry through increased safety, efficiency, and sustainability. A large stake in this innovation lies with technology suppliers that are driving the transformation towards MASS. However, the creation of markets for MASS is not possible without regulations set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that determine standards for safety, interoperability, and performance. The focus of this paper is on how market actors manage regulatory uncertainty for MASS. To analyze these interactions, we develop a framework based on corporate political activity (CPA) and resource dependence theory (RDT). We conduct thematic analysis on the qualitative data from a single case of a group of international firms attempting to influence the regulatory development for MASS. The results suggest that both the characteristics of the regulator and performer of CPA play an important role in affecting both choice and outcomes of CPA. We also analyze the tactics employed by the group and find self reinforcing and proactive synergies between the tactics employed. Furthermore, we identify a new pathway for influencing international organizations through distributed targeting, where CPA directed at other institutions contributed to the synergistic effect between tactics. 

Ecosystems of actors that need to interact to create value for end users are becoming an integral part of firms' strategic realities as they reach new markets. However, the phenomenon of ecosystem internationalisation has not been explored in comparison to its practical prevalence. We conceptualise this phenomenon as agent-led structuration on new markets. We build on the structural ecosystem literature and literature on internationalisation challenges to create our recursive process model of ecosystem creation on foreign markets. Creating ecosystems on foreign markets necessitates new ecosystem structures that are adjusted to value propositions by orchestrators through interaction with foreign market actors. The model explains how ecosystem orchestrators drive the international expansion of ecosystems through blueprinting and aligning mechanisms and how these mechanisms help manage liabilities of foreignness. The model accounts for the agency of involved actors, and with the help of the bottleneckconcept bridges international business and ecosystem literatures.