Spatial Health and Life Sciences Business Ecosystems: Research Frame

Industry competition is moving from the company-level towards business ecosystems, where organizations must develop mutually beneficial relationships with each other. This paper studies business ecosystem phenomena, focusing especially on the spatial (geographical) context within the health and life sciences industry. In addition, business ecosystem evolution and change dynamics are addressed. This study is literature-based; the findings and analysis provide a research frame for forthcoming empirical studies. Despite increasing attention, business ecosystem literature is still relatively immature, and previous studies have mostly focused on software and the information technology (it) industries. Hence, this paper provides new insights into the business ecosystem concept in a novel context.