TY - JOUR

T1 - Aligning the design of intermediary organisations with the ecosystem

AU - Reischauer, Georg

AU - Güttel, Wolfgang H.

AU - Schüßler, Elke

N1 - This research was funded by the Linz Institute of Technology (LIT) at Johannes Kepler University Linz, the State of Upper Austria, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research, and the Energy & Strategy Think Tank at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2021/5/1

Y1 - 2021/5/1

N2 - Intermediary organisations such as technology transfer organisations (TTOs) are an important mechanism of open ecosystem governance, as they support how ecosystem participants search for knowledge. While scholars have identified TTO activities to support knowledge search, little is known about how these activities relate to the structural dimensions of TTOs or ecosystem-level factors. We propose that ecosystem search scope and problem complexity are key ecosystem-level factors that influence how TTOs support knowledge search. We further argue that coupling, specialisation, centralisation, and formalisation are the key structural dimensions of TTOs. We combine these arguments to develop TTO designs that detail the interplay of the structural dimensions and activities of a TTO given varying ecosystem-level factors. Our paper contributes to research on the open governance of ecosystems, ecosystem structures, and the ecosystem structure–intermediary organisations relation.

AB - Intermediary organisations such as technology transfer organisations (TTOs) are an important mechanism of open ecosystem governance, as they support how ecosystem participants search for knowledge. While scholars have identified TTO activities to support knowledge search, little is known about how these activities relate to the structural dimensions of TTOs or ecosystem-level factors. We propose that ecosystem search scope and problem complexity are key ecosystem-level factors that influence how TTOs support knowledge search. We further argue that coupling, specialisation, centralisation, and formalisation are the key structural dimensions of TTOs. We combine these arguments to develop TTO designs that detail the interplay of the structural dimensions and activities of a TTO given varying ecosystem-level factors. Our paper contributes to research on the open governance of ecosystems, ecosystem structures, and the ecosystem structure–intermediary organisations relation.

KW - Management studies

KW - Organisation design

KW - open governance

KW - ecosystems

KW - knowledge

KW - digital technologies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100114891&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/b5ac31b4-897a-3f26-9543-b6ed913d9fc3/

U2 - 10.1080/13662716.2021.1879737

DO - 10.1080/13662716.2021.1879737

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85100114891

VL - 28

SP - 594

EP - 619

JO - Industry and Innovation

JF - Industry and Innovation

SN - 1366-2716

IS - 5

ER -