---
id: "action-distinguish-valuation-sources"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["\\\"§ Five Implications for Managers", "Investors", "and Founders\\\""]
tags: ["investors", "due-diligence", "valuation"]
related: ["claim-ecosystem-value-external", "concept-resource-based-ma", "question-quantifying-ecosystem-synergies"]
action: "Distinguish ecosystem-driven valuation from resource-based valuation to accurately assess execution risk."
outcome: "Clearer understanding of deal valuation and accurate assessment of third-party execution risks."
audience: "Investors / Managers"
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/when-evaluating-an-ma-opportunity-consider-the-broader-digital-ecosystem"
source_title: "When Evaluating an M&A Opportunity, Consider the Broader Digital Ecosystem"
sources: ["ecosystem"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-ecosystem"
originDay: 11
articleStem: "hbr-cl-80-ma-digital-ecosystem"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/when-evaluating-an-ma-opportunity-consider-the-broader-digital-ecosystem"
sourceTitle: "When Evaluating an M&A Opportunity, Consider the Broader Digital Ecosystem"
---
# Isolate Ecosystem Value in Due Diligence

**Action:** Distinguish ecosystem-driven valuation from resource-based valuation to accurately assess execution risk.
**Owner:** Investors / Managers · **Outcome:** Clearer understanding of deal valuation and accurate assessment of third-party execution risks.

When evaluating an acquisition, investors and managers must **explicitly separate** the valuation derived from internal resource synergies ([[concept-resource-based-ma]] — cost cuts, talent acquisition) from the valuation derived from [[concept-ecosystem-synergies]]. This matters because ecosystem synergies carry a different, often higher, execution-risk profile: they depend on the unpredictable actions of third-party developers and partners outside the firm's control (see [[claim-ecosystem-value-external]]). The diagnostic question is stated verbatim in [[quote-distinguishing-value-sources]].

**Open problem:** the article provides no financial model for discounting this uncertain future value — see [[question-quantifying-ecosystem-synergies]]. Standard practice applies scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis, and probability-weighted assumptions to uncertain synergies.