Glossary
Definitions of key terms used across the Boundaryless methodology
Core concepts
Arena A bounded competitive or market space with its own dynamics, evolution trajectory, and strategic forces. Arenas are the starting point of ecosystem scanning.
Ecosystem The set of entities (organizations, people, platforms) that participate in or influence a given value chain. An ecosystem is typically bounded by one or more arenas.
Entity A participant in the ecosystem. Every entity plays a platform role: Peer Consumer, Peer Producer, Partner, Stakeholder, or Owner.
Platform role How an entity relates to the platform. Five roles are canonical:
- Peer Consumer (PC) — consumes core value
- Peer Producer (PP) — creates core value
- Partner (PA) — completes or enhances the offering
- Stakeholder — interested but not actively participating
- Owner — shapes platform strategy
Motivation What drives an entity's participation. Distinguished into intrinsic (curiosity, mastery, purpose) and extrinsic (money, convenience, access).
Value exchange A flow of value between two entities. Types include: knowledge, money, goods, services, attention, data. Exchanges can be current (happening today) or potential (new or latent demand).
Platform design
Transaction A discrete exchange facilitated by the platform. Has phases: discovery, engagement, consumption, review.
Touchpoint A specific interaction point between an entity and the platform within a transaction.
Channel The medium through which a transaction occurs (app, web, physical location, API).
Experience The assembled journey an entity has with the platform across touchpoints.
Flywheel A set of reinforcing loops that compound over time to create defensibility.
Network property A structural characteristic of the network (same-side vs cross-side effects, commodity vs differentiated, concentrated vs distributed).
Liquidity The state in which the platform has enough supply and demand to reliably match them. The "critical mass" threshold.
Growth
Growth loop A closed feedback cycle where output of the system feeds back as input for further growth.
Unit economics The economic model of a single unit of activity (transaction, customer, product). Revenue minus cost at unit level.
Canonical unit The atomic unit used to measure the platform (e.g., one booking, one match, one transaction).
Portfolio and organization
Offering A market-facing value proposition with a specific maturity stage: one-off, bespoke, productized, API/module.
Product Unit An internal building block of the portfolio — a horizontal platform, a vertical solution, or a bundle. Product units evolve through the ILC lifecycle: Innovate → Leverage → Componentize (see Horizontals, Verticals, and the ILC Model).
Need A customer requirement, positioned in a 2×2 matrix along specificity (specific/standardized) and strategic relevance (strategic/operational).
Micro-Enterprise (ME) A small, autonomous internal unit owning a core domain with P&L responsibility. A 3EO concept.
Shared Service Platform (SSP) An internal unit providing supporting capabilities to multiple MEs. A 3EO concept.
Ecosystem Micro-Community (EMC) A win-win contract that aligns several units (MEs, Node-MEs, SSPs) around a shared market-facing outcome, with revenue-sharing and clear responsibilities. A 3EO concept.
Domain-Driven Design (DDD) topology Classification of organizational elements into:
- Core domains → Micro-Enterprises
- Supporting domains → Shared Service Platforms
- Generic domains → External (outsource or buy)
VAM (Value Adjustment Mechanism) An internal market mechanism that aligns incentives by translating value created into economic rewards.
Methodology structure
Pipeline An end-to-end strategic path answering a specific organizational question. Composed of 2–4 techniques.
Technique A composable procedural unit, typically 4–16 hours of facilitated work, with clear inputs and outputs. Can be used standalone or as part of a pipeline.
Canvas A visual tool used in a specific step of a technique. Each canvas produces and consumes the working artefacts that flow between steps.
Macro-problem A high-level strategic question the methodology helps you work through (e.g. understanding the ecosystem, designing the platform experience). Each pipeline is the operational form of one macro-problem.