[p2p-research] [OK] Ecosystems: an explanation of their relevance as a practical organizing principle in a networked world

[Suresh Fernando]

Hey Folks,

The featured project at OpenKollab is the Ecosystem Pooled Fund
Initiative<http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ASJ9wl9qbZEzZGM0Z2Jnc2pfMTI1MjhxcXM5eGNq&hl=en>,
the objective of which is to develop an innovative funding structure to
finance early stage social venture
projects<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entrepreneurship>.
In developing this structure OpenKollab will begin the process of filling an
existing whole in the capital markets landscape; the absence of investment
capital for *early stage social entrepreneurs.*

Central to the structure of the fund concept is the notion of *ecosystems*.
It also comes up in a lot of my communication, it is a part of the structure
of our blog <http://mudball.net/openkollab> and it is prominently featured
in this <http://www.slideshare.net/sureshf/openkollab-project-matching>, and
other, documents and presentations.

*I think that it is time that I make it clear why the idea of ecosystems is
central to the OpenKollab view of the world.*

*
*

*What is an Ecosystem?* In general terms, an ecosystem can be understood as
a natural set of relationships that exist between projects that makes it
possible that they *collaborate*. Hence projects that are a part of an
ecosystem interact with each other, the leaders know each other, and the
projects are mutually interdependent in some way.

In more specific terms, an ecosystem can consist of projects that share the
same larger goals, that share common team members, share common customers or
markets, that are a part of the same value chain (partners, suppliers etc.),
share a common technology infrastructure etc. There is no theoretical limit
to what is constitutive of an ecosystem and, in reality, this will be
determined in practice by talking to projects that might form a part of an
ecosystem. This is what we are doing as we map out the Distributed
Manufacturing Space<http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AiJ9wl9qbZEzdGRYY2YzRlhHemVMT3ZFd1otSHp0anc&hl=en>.


*So at its essence, an ecosystem view of the world makes sense is if
collaboration across boundaries makes sense in the world that we live in.*

*
*

*Does Collaboration Across Organizational Boundaries Make Sense?* This is a
large question that could be understood in two ways:

1.       Is collaboration, *as a principle of engagement, *important in the
modern world?

2.       Is collaboration *due to change in communications mechanisms* more
relevant today than it was in the past?

The answer is a wholehearted yes to both questions!

That said, for the purposes of this discussion let’s focus on 2. I will
treat 1 on a different occasion.

In addressing two I suspect that I am preaching to the choir. This is to say
that we all know that the modern world, from the standpoint of
communication, has the following features:

·         Internet connectivity penetration rates are increasing

·         Bandwith limitations are being reduced

·         The cost of communication is dropping (thank you Skype!)

·         Interoperability protocols, applications etc. are evolving

·         Social networking platforms (Facebook...) are changing the culture
of communication

·         Processing power is being pushed to the edge of the network
(Smartphones etc.)

·         The real time infrastructure is evolving (Twitter)


All of these, and other, socio-technological forces lead to an environment
and culture of interaction where :

·         Information flows freely across organizational boundaries

·         Geographic constraints are less meaningful

·         Structural limitations on information management don’t constrain
participation (thousands of people can work on projects!)

·         Meetings can be run virtually

·         Projects can be managed asynchronously

·         Projects can be scaled to involve many people with minimal
incremental cost

·         Your communications infrastructure can be scaled to include many
people with minimal incremental cost


Hence the inhibitors to collaboration and engagement are being reduced.

The coordination cost of working together is dropping dramatically. It is
simply much easier, and less costly to coordinate the activity of many
people around the world than it was in the past.

*Or, shall we say, it makes economic sense to collaborate! *

*It, therefore, makes sense to seek out collaboration opportunities as this
is the most efficient means of organizing resources to satisfy larger
mission driven objectives! *

(Note that, from a theoretical perspective, it remains to be seen if
collaboration makes sense for the purely self interested since this is
a *resources
efficiency *argument... Since this is an open question, I restrict my
arguments to the structure of organizational relationships in the social
venture space.)

*
*

*If it makes sense to organize ourselves collaboratively, what is the best
way to structure organizational relationships?*

If it is the case that the best way to achieve objectives is through seeking
coordinated activity with others, then one must structure ones relationship
with the world in a manner that makes possible coordinated activity of this
sort.

In short, one must attempt to organize activity in collaboration with others
by developing, or participating in, the infrastructure that makes it
possible for you to:

·         *Have visibility into the activity of others in* a manner that
will make it possible to identify collaboration opportunities.

·         *Communicate and explore* ways of working with other projects.

Again, the reason one wants to do this is that the infrastructure cost of
communication and information exchange is nominal.

Gains that you make in what you learn from each other, and the opportunities
that will evolve, will far outstrip the cost of the infrastructure over the
long term.

*
*

*Ecosystems: the model that supports this view of Intra-Organizational
Interaction?*

 Given the above, we can understand ecosystems as groups of organizations
that:

·         Are related to each other in such a way that they can support and
learn from each other

·         Are connected by a common communications/collaboration
infrastructure

·         That explore, in an open ended way, ways of working together that
are mutually beneficial.

It makes sense to do this because there is much to be learned from each
other and it costs little to develop the systems that make this possible.

*
*

*Ecosystems, Risk Mitigation and Financing*

In organizing groups of projects in this manner, the probability of the
success of the group of projects is increased, thereby also mitigating risk
for investors. In mitigating risk for investors, we will be able to flow
capital into projects that sorely lack capital at this time.

This is the aim of the Ecosystem Pooled Fund Initiative.



*I hope you will collaborate with us as we work towards bringing to fruition
these possibilities...*


-- 
Suresh Fernando
WEBSITE: http://radical-inclusion.com
WEBSITE: http://wiki.openkollab.com
BLOG: http://sureshfernando.wordpress.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/sureshf
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/suresh.fernando
604-889-8167
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