Ecosystem Marketing

The introduction of any new medium has always had a profound effect on the way we communicate

“ Allow events to change you” - Bruce Mau "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth"

To strategize and plan within the digitally empowered world, we need to start with the underlying dynamics

That’s where mother nature comes in

To understand digital , and the new ecology of networks, you have to first get ecosystems

Because networks are ecosystems

Ecosystem: a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment* *dictionary.com

Ecosystems have 5 key characteristics

1. Ecosystems are the consequences of relationships

2. Ecosystems are open to energy and material flow

3. Ecosystems have no boundaries

4. In an ecosystem, everything is linked to everything else

5. Ecosystems are intractable (not easily manipulated or managed)

Ecosystems are complex systems

Where relationships are not prescribed but rather ‘emerge’

Relationships in ecosystems: Implicit& Inferred Cumulative vs. Individual Close & Weak ties

Ecosystems are self-organizing

Self organizing behaviour increases the complexity of the system over time without being guided or managed by an outside source…….and the system starts to display emergent properties that you couldn’t have predicted before you started

“ The opposite of an imposed structure is not chaos …the opposite of an imposed structure is an emergent structure , one that forms over time based on the interactions of a lot of people” Andrew Mcafee, HBS

How does this mesh with traditional business thinking ?

It doesn’t ;)

“ Ecosystem are not only more complex than we think, ecosystems are more complex than we can think” - FB Golley, 1993

Lessons From: Environmental Theory & Management

Environmentalists used to manage the environment the same way that many businesses manage their customers, employees and brands today

Early approaches to environmental management Clear cut forest in Algonquin Park

Knowledge as a tool for domination Model of masters and servants Top-down system of control Belief that internal borders matter Belief that ecosystems are static ‘ Command & Control’

Early approaches to digital environmental management America Online Closed Community

Later approaches to environmental management Cane toad introduction in Australia

We are outside of the ecosystem Model of parent and child Belief the system can be engineered Belief that changes can be predetermined and have desirous effects Belief that ecosystems are linear ‘ Resource Management’

Later approaches to digital environmental management Microsoft’s What We Think is Best For You Approach

A new school of thought has emerged with its roots based in the philosophy of ecosystem thinking

‘ The Ecosystem Approach’

The ecosystem approach believes that we are not outside of the system we are part of it

That ecosystems cannot be controlled or managed

That healthy ecosystems are open

And that ecosystems are alive, organic and constantly evolving

Finally, the ecosystem approach understands that as the system changes, so do we

The Ecosystems Approach Google’s open and distributed approach James Lovelock’s Gaia Theory

How will this effect how we do business day today ? I’ll discuss that in Part II coming soon….but for now…

Remember to think networks, ecosystems

From old world hierarchies

To a new world order - self-organizing and emergent

Until then :) leighhimel.blogspot.com

sources

ESF Scientific Programme (Jan 2000) “Linking Community and Ecosystem Ecology (LINKECOL)

Hollick, Malcolm (1993) “Self-organizing systems and environmental management” Centre for water research, University of Western Australia

Katsoupas, Vassilios (1992) “Mobilizations to Safe the Kalamas River” Masters Thesis

Korn, Stadler, Maltby & Kerr (Eds) “Report of the scientific workshop on “The ecosystem approach - what does it mean for European ecosystems?”

Laffoley, D.d'A., Maltby, E., Vincent, M.A., Mee, L., Dunn, E., Gilliland, P., Hamer, J.P, Mortimer, D., and Pound, D. 2004. The Ecosystem Approach. Coherent actions for marine and coastal environments. A report to the UK Government. Peterborough, English Nature. 65pp.