Meaning ● Ecosystem-Based Competition, in the context of SMB growth, refers to the competitive dynamics arising from the network of interconnected businesses, partners, and resources surrounding a particular SMB. This perspective shifts the focus from individual firm competition to the broader system in which the SMB operates and interacts. In particular, it highlights the strategies for automation and implementation used by SMBs to enhance their position within a value chain of resources by leveraging business partnerships, technology platforms, and collaborative initiatives that allows SMBs to compete effectively against larger, more established rivals by finding novel innovative methods for increasing market share in their specific business market sector. Therefore, successful SMBs frequently identify complementary products or services and collaborate strategically within these ecosystems for mutual benefit, rather than focusing solely on head-to-head competition. Also, consider carefully if your organization’s business growth, automation and implementation models fit an ecosystem where your business capabilities can truly benefit by identifying appropriate ecosystem business models with which you are familiar. In practice, this can manifest as sharing data with a data partner or engaging in joint marketing initiatives with business partners in order to realize the benefits for each party within that ecosystem. Lastly, the focus is on how effectively SMBs manage their connections, how adaptive and scalable the ecosystem model is and the level of automation utilized within the context of their unique SMB.