Ecosystem strategy is a new approach to growth and innovation that helps enterprises build interconnected services to fulfil customers’ primary needs in an integrated experience. Many of the world’s most successful organizations have harnessed the power of ecosystems and already offer services beyond just core business. Most of the largest companies around the globe have also become ecosystem competitors. Ecosystem building can vastly accelerate growth, but it also presents unique challenges in execution. With a global network of more than 200 experts, a suite of distinctive capabilities, and proprietary knowledge and assets across sectors, we help clients pursue ecosystem strategies that will create long-lasting impact.
Helping clients navigate the integrated network economy, create deeper relationships with end consumers, and generate value by defining new engagement models and cross-sector value propositions
What we do
We work shoulder to shoulder with clients and help them achieve their ecosystem ambitions.
Vision setting
Set a meaningful vision that puts your organization on a successful path
Opportunity diagnostic
Select the focus of your ecosystem strategy
Concept definition
Outline and size your value proposition and roadmap
Concept building
Jointly build and launch your ecosystem
Examples of our work
Defining an ecosystem strategy
We helped a Middle Eastern conglomerate define its ecosystem strategy, which included sizing and prioritizing over 25 potential areas to focus on, defining disruptive value propositions to achieve more than two to three times the revenue growth, and detailing the capabilities and operating model required to achieve this ambition
Building multiple ecosystems
We assisted a leading financial conglomerate in Asia on the strategy and build for multiple ecosystem subsidiaries including health, finance, and auto; some subsidiaries have since gone public and are now multibillion-dollar companies
Increasing reach
We helped a leading North American financial institution in launching over 15 ecosystem offerings by prioritizing key ecosystems, value propositions, and a target organizational operating model. As a result, they were able to reach approximately ten percent of the bankable population with its noncore initiatives
Featured Capabilities
Ecosystem Quotient: assess organizational readiness for ecosystem building that’s benchmarked against market leaders
Ecosystem Value Pools: prioritize key focus areas using a proprietary ecosystem revenue sizing covering 74 global markets
Ecosystem Diagnostic: identify focus areas for your ecosystem strategy
Partner Scan for Ecosystems: map and assess potential partners and competitors along relevant customer journeys
Leap by McKinsey: works with established organizations to imagine, build, and scale new businesses—and develop the capabilities needed to do it again and again
Corporate performance analytics: a digital platform for benchmarking financial-performance data, developing strategies, and uncovering insights for data-driven decision making
Go and see programs: learn from peers and other organizations who have undertaken an ecosystem journey
DataX: reach data-transformation impact faster by designing and building a modern, cloud-based data platform
Featured Experts
Venkat Atluri
Senior PartnerChicago
Leads McKinsey’s technology and telecommunications work globally. Delivers large-scale performance improvement through technology,...
Stefan Biesdorf
PartnerMunich
Serves clients from the healthcare sector on digital and technology-related projects as a member of McKinsey’s Digital and Analytics...
Violet Chung
Senior PartnerHong Kong
Supports digital and innovation in financial services across Asia and Greater China, serving clients with digital transformations,...
Ulrike Deetjen
PartnerStuttgart
Leads digital transformations in health, life, and property-and-casualty insurance, with a focus on developing and implementing...
Miklós Gábor Dietz
Senior PartnerVancouver
Helps financial services companies and other organizations harness digital technology and stay ahead of emerging trends
Ralf Dreischmeier
Senior PartnerLondon
Helps companies build businesses that use digital strategies to achieve transformation and establish more nimble and agile ways...
Featured Insights
Article
Ecosystem 2.0: Climbing to the next level
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After a first wave of trials, incumbents are shaking up value chains to attract new ecosystem customers—and tap potentially huge pools of value.
Article
Growth and resilience through ecosystem building
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Effective ecosystem strategies can deliver valuable near-term benefits as well as generate long-term growth and resilience. Leaders are finding significant benefits already.
Article
How do companies create value from digital ecosystems?
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Ecosystem strategies can generate significant value both by growing the core business and by expanding the portfolio into new products and services.
Article
Ecosystems and platforms: How insurers can turn vision into reality
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Today, insurers win by offering a product. Tomorrow, insurers will win by providing access to prevention and assistance services—and by offering the right product to the right customer at the right time.
Article
A design-led approach to embracing an ecosystem strategy
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Embedding design thinking, methods, and tools from the outset of ecosystem development will help companies produce integrated ecosystem offerings that delight customers, stave off threats, and create new sources of value.
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