Transforming a Supply Chain Towards a Digital Business Ecosystem

This study describes the intervention process of transforming a peat production supply chain towards a digital business ecosystem. We conducted a series of participative, co-creative workshops to facilitate and to research the transformation process. According to our findings, a wider ecosystem perspective to transformation helped to overcome the initial motivational challenges felt by the supply chain members. In the workshops, the participants were able to create joint meanings of social, financial, and use value of digital data, and to collaboratively make decisions about the transformation towards a digital business ecosystem. This was due to the participants’ collaborative knowledge creation and negotiation processes, supported by the facilitators applying co-creative methods. Our results suggest that a developmental intervention provided a temporary governance structure for the participants to collaboratively create a shared logic for the digital business ecosystem creation.