1st Edition

Symbiotic Strategy and Organizational Growth in Complex Business Ecosystems

By Chunhua Chen Copyright 2027
232 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book addresses the growth ceiling confronting incumbent firms mired in stock-market saturation and technological disruption and explores how to pivot from a "zero-sum competitive logic" to a "logic of ecological co-growth." Its distinctiveness lies in moving beyond conventional strategic frameworks: it reconceives the external environment as a three-dimensional ecological space defined by... Read more

Introduction: Philosophy Of Intelligent Survival and Strategic Reconstruction

Part One: Symbiotic Strategy

Chapter 1 Paradigm Revolution: From Zero-Sum Games to Symbiotic Evolution

Chapter 2 Symbiotic Strategy and Its Basic Types

Chapter 3 Classical Strategy and Symbiotic Strategy

Part Two: Formulation and Implementation of Symbiotic Strategy

Chapter 4 The Three Meta-Leaps in Formulating a Symbiotic Strategy

Chapter 5 Symbiotic Organizational Design

Chapter 6 Building the Five Core Capabilities

Part Three: AI-Native Society and a Global Perspective on Symbiotic Strategy

Chapter 7 The Symbiotic Evolution of an AI-Native Society

Chapter 8 The Symbiotic Strategy of an AI-Native Society Becomes an Enterprise's Foundational Capability

Chapter 9 A Global Perspective on Symbiotic Strategy

Epilogue: A New Business Civilization—From Competition to Symbiosis

Biography

Chunhua Chen is President of the Shanghai Institute for Intelligent Organization and Digital Technology Management and Chair of New Huadu Business School.

She previously held academic appointments at the School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, the National School of Development at Peking University, and the Business School of the National University of Singapore.

Professor Chen has authored more than thirty books on management, organizational growth, and strategic transformation, and her long-term research focuses on enterprise growth models, organizational innovation, digital transformation, and symbiotic strategy.

"In an era marked by global volatility, persistent conflict, and uncertain trajectories, this volume carries the profound responsibility and devotion of a management scholar to both corporate sustainability and the collective human spirit." Dr. Ming-Jer Chen, Chaired Professor at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia; Life Fellow of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society; Founder of the Dynamic Competition Theory and the Cultural Dual-Blend Philosophy; Former President of the Academy of Management

 

"I often emphasize that running an enterprise requires both a pragmatic commitment to solving immediate problems and the foresight to read the grand trends of our time. Professor Chen Chunhua's Symbiotic Strategy and Organizational Growth in Complex Business Ecosystems is precisely such a blueprint—rooted in the present yet dynamically oriented toward the future.

The book's central tenets—'connection supersedes ownership' and 'coopetition outperforms zero-sum games'—resonate deeply with my own advocacy of 'symbiosis and win-win outcomes.' As digital intelligence radically reshapes the commercial landscape, the legacy mindset of operating as an isolated, dominant 'supply chain master' is no longer tenable. Enterprises must instead act as 'gardeners' who cultivate ecosystems, releasing the potential of all stakeholders through collective value co-creation and sharing in order to navigate macroeconomic cycles. For entrepreneurs and executives seeking to secure certainty amid volatility and transcend traditional competition, Symbiotic Strategy is essential reading—not merely an innovation in strategic frameworks, but a structural ascent of business civilization." Dr. Ziping Song, President of the China Association for Public Companies; Chief Expert of the China Enterprise Reform and Development Society; Renowned Management Expert, and Professor of Management Practice at Tsinghua University and Peking University

 

"In an era of stagnant market growth, how do we transcend the absolute limits of expansion? Symbiotic Strategy and Organizational Growth in Complex Business Ecosystems offers a definitive answer: move beyond zero-sum games and embrace symbiotic evolution. This volume systematically constructs a new growth logic for intelligent survival, cutting to the essence of the digital intelligence environment. It guides enterprises to reconfigure traditional, linear value chains into transparent, multi-dimensional value networks—empowering others to achieve sustained self-prosperity amid the fog of uncertainty." Dr. Jianwen Liao, Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB); Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School; Senior Advisor and Former Chief Strategy Officer of JD.com Group