Theoretical foundations of software ecosystems Geir K. Hanssen 1 , Tore Dybå 1 1 SINTEF, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway {Geir.K.Hanssen,Tore.Dyba}@sintef.no Abstract. Software ecosystems have become a defined and active field of research based on the recent emergence of new open business models leading to new roles and patterns for collaboration, innovation, and value proposition. In this paper we look into the theoretical foundations of this new research field. We review recent publications to describe the present theorization; we discuss the relevance of theory and, in particular, we argue for the relevance of socio- technical theory and the related theory of organizational ecology in the continuing research on software ecosystems. To summarize we define a preliminary theoretical framework to guide and support future research. Keywords: Software ecosystems, theory 1 Introduction ‘Software ecosystems’ is becoming a new and important field of research fueled by new business models in the software engineering domain, representing a redefinition of traditional roles and patterns for collaboration and innovation. This creates complex networked communities of organizations or actors. Such communities are often based on a common interest in a central software technology, like a software product line or platform that offers opportunities of value increasing technologies and services by a variety of actors [22]. We see cases where a keystone organization dominates the development [24]; in other cases, control is diffuse, like in open source communities [35]. Such cross-technology and cross-organizational networks, which we define as software ecosystems, represent a radical shift in how software engineering is being done, influencing fundamental aspects such as control, collaboration, business models, and innovation [39, 54]. In short, software engineering is becoming an open process in a complex distributed environment. Following this trend in industry, we also see the emergence of a research community sharing an interest in software ecosystems and how they affect the software engineering discipline. A dedicated international workshop series is established as well as various publications at international conferences and in scientific journals, including a special issue on software ecosystems [6]. So far, the terminology and definitions within this research community vary greatly – the concept of software ecosystems is rather vague and diverse and it can be hard to see how results and contributions from empirical studies relate to each other beyond the research of single or close groups of authors. This is natural as a novel field of Proceedings of IWSECO 2012 6