Gaining Ecosystem Advantage

Building ecosystems in healthcare

Guest contributor: Jeroen Tas (Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer of Philips)

COVID-19 has been a massive challenge for healthcare systems the world over and has highlighted the challenges we face due to the fragmentation and limited information sharing in health. At the same time, it has helped technology forge ahead by leaps and bounds. So, what should we expect moving forward? 

In this webinar, Jeroen Tas (Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer of Philips) was joined by Michael G Jacobides and David Lancefield to discuss the future role of ecosystems in healthcare. 

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Bridging the physical and the digital

Guest contributor: Ahmed Galal Ismail (Chief Executive Officer Majid Al Futtaim)

Retail, conventional wisdom goes, has been one of the hardest hit sectors due to the rapid acceleration of e-commerce and the effects of the pandemic. So when a firm operates 28 shopping malls across the Middle East and North Africa and has over 350 retail outlets from Uganda to Pakistan, you might think this is an existential moment for the business. Interestingly, not. 

In this webinar, we heard from Ahmed Galal Ismail, Chief Executive Officer Majid Al Futtaim – Properties and a distinguished alumnus of London Business School, MBA Class of 2002, to understand why Majid Al Futtaim was steadily working on a digital transformation strategy that enabled it to pivot its business within weeks of the pandemic setting in. 

By creating ‘phygital’ worlds, building digital eco-systems, and placing data, insights and experiences at the heart of its offering, Majid Al Futtaim has been able to retain market share, drive sales, and continue innovating in a globally challenging period for the retail industry. Who said drastic innovation and platform enabled eco-systems was the sole domain of tech firms? 

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Regulating Ecosystem stalwarts

Guest contributor: Cristina Caffarra (one of the leading antitrust practitioners)

COVID19 has, if anything, cemented the hold of the Big Tech firms, which have been the archetypical ecosystem builders. If Big Tech offers such seamless experiences, what is there to dislike? Why should we look at the increasing role of a few powerful orchestrators, who both underpin our lives on a daily basis, and determine the fate of a vast number of complementors? In this webinar Cristina Caffarra, one of the leading antitrust practitioners, considered the dark sides of these shiny new ecosystems, and tells us what we can do, or at least attempt to do, to curb competitive excesses to protect customers, smaller business partners, and innovation, without throwing out the baby along with the tub water. 

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Building ecosystems in payments

Guest contributor: Kelly Devine (the President, UK and Ireland, of Mastercard)

Mastercard is a household name; 2.5 billion cards are embossed with its logo worldwide. Ecosystems play a pivotal role in making transactions “safe, simple and smart”. It faces dynamic new entrants: Fintechs are collaborators, and potential competitors. How does Mastercard evolve its ecosystems to include players such as Square, Stripe and Revolut? How do the inter-ecosystem dynamics shape intra-ecosystem competition? And how does it ensure a fair, open and competitive framework for all participants? 

It also operates in a society facing major issues, such as financial exclusion. What role does it play in addressing them? Specifically, how can it build the trust necessary for people to share their data as we move towards open-banking? Kelly Devine, the President, UK and Ireland, of Mastercard explored these opportunities, tensions and trade-offs in this thought-provoking webinar. 

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Leading a sports-based ecosystem in a crisis

Guest contributor: Darren Childs (Former CEO of Premiership Rugby)

Talk about tough starts. In his first few days, the former CEO of Premiership Rugby, Darren Childs, faced salary cap breaches by the one of the top clubs, Saracens, and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How do you orchestrate a complex, high profile ecosystem of clubs, sponsors, media companies, merchandisers and fans in such a crisis? How do you lead without “hard” authority over a club chairperson who often pursues their own agendas? How do you withstand pressure to mitigate commercial downsides in order to protect player safety?

Find out how Darren worked closely with Government to provide £88million of support for clubs, whilst also concluding an extension of its long-standing broadcast partnership with BT Sport and a new 10-year deal for the European competitions Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. 

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The Ultimate Frontier (and why China’s ahead): Engaging with the AI ecosystem

Guest contributor: Francois Candelon (Senior Partner and MD, BCG; Global Managing Director of the BCG Henderson Institute)

One of the most pervasive changes in how business is conducted is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which turns information and data into knowledge and predictive power. But AI is not just an abstract technology. It is enabled, produced, and leveraged by firms which form their own AI ecosystems. These ecosystems, dominated by Big Tech like Google, Microsoft, AliBaba and Tencent, shape what firms, and what nations can achieve. 

We were joined by the Global Director of BCG’s Henderson Institute, Francois Candelon, for an illuminating discussion based on how the AI ecosystem works, what are the options for firms that engage with it, and why the structure of the Chinese AI ecosystem may be an important driver of its increasing AI prowess. 

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Building an insurance ecosystem: Lessons from the PingAn Story

Guest contributor: Jonathan Larsen (Chief Innovation Officer, PingAn)

PingAn has been synonymous with ecosystem success. PingAn started modestly as a Chinese traditional insurer, and used technology not only to transform its operations, but also to power an ambitious ecosystem that spans from healthcare to lifestyle, becoming the world’s most valuable insurance firm along the way. 

Jonathan Larsen, PingAn’s Chief Innovation Officer, took us through this remarkable ecosystem success story, to help us understand not only what led to this success but also how to organize to best support a successful, if potentially sprawling ecosystem. 

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Repositioning the news media ecosystem: putting readers in charge

Guest contributor: Keith Underwood, CEO (acting) of the Guardian

The Guardian is one of the world’s leading news organisations. It has successfully evolved from a national newspaper to a global provider of high-quality, impactful journalism in multiple formats, on multiple platforms, in multiple countries.

In this session we were joined by Keith Underwood, interim CEO of the Guardian Media Group and previously the COO/CFO at Channel 4. In a stimulating discussion, we covered the changing dynamics of the media and digital landscape; the capabilities required to define and deliver digital transformation; how he orchestrates - and participates in - ecosystems inside and outside his organisation; and the power of purpose in driving business engagement and performance.

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Will regulation reshape the structure of the tech ecosystem in 2022?

Guest contributor: Benedict Evans, Independent Analyst and Venture Partner at Entrepreneur First and Mosaic Ventures

While Big Tech firms keep growing and expanding, and as political momentum to regulate and restrain them gains ground, the question is- what will happen in terms of the future of tech ecosystems? Will regulation change how business is done, or who benefits from it? Or will Big tech continue their path to dominance only to be potentially thwarted by changes in data processing, search, ad tech, certification and blockchain or AR?

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