Do you mind if I keep that? Value extraction in software ecosystems

Abstract

Software companies no longer operate in a vacuum, but share their products and services, knowledge and expertise with other companies in various software ecosystems. The reasons for participating in a software ecosystem are based upon the (business) value the participants receive from these relationships compared to the value they give up. Exchanging value through software ecosystems is not sufficiently studied so far. To cover this research gap, a formal definition of value in software ecosystems is created, together with an overview of the forms of value as they appear in software ecosystems. The Value Exchange Graph (VEGA) is developed to model the movement of value through the software ecosystem. The VEGA can be used to accurately model both the impact of specific actions or strategies, and describe the relationships of a software company in a software ecosystem. The model also supports formal reasoning over its properties to a considerable degree, though applications are limited. The model is validated using scenarios from both scientific literature and case studies of various software companies.