Back to Portfolio Strategy

Ecosystem Strategy

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
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.

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

250+

ecosystem

strategy projects

200+

global experts

on ecosystem strategy and build

50+

ecosystem-related

publications globally

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 Partner, Chicago
Leads McKinsey’s technology and telecommunications work globally. Delivers large-scale performance improvement through technology,...
Stefan Biesdorf
Partner, Munich
Serves clients from the healthcare sector on digital and technology-related projects as a member of McKinsey’s Digital and Analytics...
Violet Chung
Partner, Hong Kong
Supports digital and innovation in financial services across Asia and Greater China, serving clients with digital transformations,...
Ulrike Deetjen
Partner, Stuttgart
Leads digital transformations in health, life, and property-and-casualty insurance, with a focus on developing and implementing...
Miklós Gábor Dietz
Senior Partner, Vancouver
Helps financial services companies and other organizations harness digital technology and stay ahead of emerging trends
Ralf Dreischmeier
Senior Partner, London
Helps companies build businesses that use digital strategies to achieve transformation and establish more nimble and agile ways...
Jorge Grieve
Partner, Riyadh
Coleads Leap by McKinsey in Latin America, which helps established organizations and start-ups launch and scale new businesses
Vinayak HV
Senior Partner, Singapore
Coleader of McKinsey Digital and leader of Build by McKinsey in Asia; works closely with local, regional, and global institutions...
Hamza Khan
Partner , London
Coleads the Marketing & Sales Practice in the UK and Ireland; leads digital and growth transformations in both B2C and B2B environments.
Ari Libarikian
Senior Partner, New York
Advises companies on building thriving businesses, helping organizations to grow, improve business processes, and strengthen digital...
Istvan Rab
Associate Partner, Budapest
Leads our ecosystem strategy work globally, helping organizations build interconnected services to deepen relationships with customers...
Marcus Roth
Partner, Tokyo
Deploys deep expertise in digital and analytics transformation across several sectors and is an expert in building multisector...
Yolanda Zonno
Partner, Madrid
Works with companies in the banking and insurance sectors defining and executing business transformation programs enabled by strategy...
See More

Featured Insights

Article

Ecosystem 2.0: Climbing to the next level

– 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

How do companies create value from digital ecosystems?
– 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
– 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
– 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.
Article

Defining and seizing the mobility ecosystem opportunity
– What mobility ecosystems will help OEMs and other industry stakeholders in the next normal?

Related Practices

Leap
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.

McKinsey Digital
Learn how we help clients use digital to create value by reinventing the core of their business.

Strategy & Corporate Finance
Our global team of consultants help companies around the world identify, develop, and implement winning strategies, offering support... and capability building at every stage of the strategic journey and provide independent, strategic advice on finance and value creation. We work with clients on topics such as valuation, transaction support, capital markets, treasury, financial analysis and modeling, and strengthening the finance function.

Connect with our Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice

Contact