---
id: "entity-strategic-management-journal"
type: "entity"
entityType: "publication"
canonicalName: "Strategic Management Journal"
aliases: ["SMJ", "Wiley/SMJ"]
source_timestamps: ["¶6"]
tags: ["publication", "research", "peer-reviewed"]
related: ["framework-three-types-ecosystem-synergies", "entity-natalie-burford", "entity-andrew-shipilov", "entity-nathan-furr"]
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"
---
# Strategic Management Journal

**Entity type:** publication · **Canonical name:** Strategic Management Journal (SMJ)

**Role in source.** The peer-reviewed academic journal where the authors ([[entity-natalie-burford]], [[entity-andrew-shipilov]], [[entity-nathan-furr]]) recently published their research developing the framework for ecosystem structures that drive M&A target choices. The HBR article is a managerial distillation of that paper ("Ecosystem synergies as drivers of acquisitions"). The journal is the strongest scholarly warrant for the vault's core claims.

**Enrichment note:** The SMJ (Wiley) paper explicitly defines ecosystem synergy as value created through combination of the acquirer and target's ecosystem positions that improves the combined firm's cooperation with complementors. Notably, the paper's own typology labels three novel synergy sources as **relational, network, and non-market** — the article translates these into the more manager-friendly Strengthening / Attracting / Connecting (see [[framework-three-types-ecosystem-synergies]]).