The Internet competitive landscape: Insights from organisational ecology

This study analyses the competitive landscape of the internet from the perspective of organisational ecology theory, an approach that fits well the evolutionary nature of the growth and development of the internet, and the nature of the business competition it engenders. It explores how the 'electronic commerce firm', as an individual organisation, should best be conceptualised, and then examines the three levels of organisational ecology analysis in detail: the demography of internet organisations, population ecology and community ecology. This study relates various aspects of the internet competitive landscape to organisational ecology theory, borrowing from the resource-based view of the firm.