Thinking Outside the Firm—Extending Digital Transformation Strategies for the Ecosystem Context

Driven by the challenges of a digitalizing environment, firms implement digital transformation strategies (DTS) to integrate and leverage novel technologies. As digital technologies lead to a growing connectivity across individuals, firms, and devices, firms’ digital transformations sprawl onto an ecosystem level. Within digital business ecosystems (DBE), firms collaborate and co-create value with other actors. However, previous literature focuses little on how engaging with a DBE influences a DTS. Based on the results of an in-depth single case study, we find that ecosystem engagement affects all dimensions of the DTS and is reciprocally interrelated with the firm’s surroundings. By proposing an extended model of the DTS concept for ecosystems, we overcome the narrow, intra-firm level focus and add a crucial perspective beyond the focal firm to DTS literature. Practitioners can use these insights to accelerate their firms’ digital transformation in digital ecosystems and leverage their businesses in the digital space.