Firm performance drivers within a dynamic emerging market ecosystem

Business ecosystem participants face a significant challenge in navigating the dynamic environment due to high levels of interdependencies. Integrating dynamic capabilities theory and the business ecosystem perspective, we examine how business ecosystem participants increase performance in such an environment. Using longitudinal data from the Brazilian automotive cluster, we find that a higher degree of modularity and supplier involvement both lead to improved performance of business ecosystem participants. Moreover, we show that strategic agility acts as a mediator, positively influencing the indirect relationships between modularity and performance, as well as supplier involvement and performance. These indirect relationships are further moderated by the digitalization level. This research contributes to the business ecosystem literature by demonstrating that agility and digitalization are important drivers of business ecosystem participants' performance.