Leadership in the electromobility ecosystem: Integrators and coordinators

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Electromobility is a nascent business ecosystem, in which the position of leadership is not assigned per se, so stakeholders have equal claims on it. Firms differ according to their strategic paths (build-borrow-buy strategies for growth) and ability to align their business model with the collective imperatives of the ecosystem. On the basis of strategic management theory, this article proposes two hypotheses. First, the firms that build and master the greatest number of activities and skills required to offer sale bundles (i.e., integrators) are best positioned in the race to leadership, because of their capacity and ability to control key resources. Second, and in contrast to the first hypothesis, firms that are best able to coordinate the ecosystem as a whole (i.e., coordinators) may take precedence. With an empirical study of the strategic actions of stakeholders in the electromobility business ecosystem, we reveal different paths established for individual integrators or coordinators. Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.