A Survey of Associate Models used within Large Software Ecosystems

Associate models are powerful tools for large software ecosystem orchestrators to manage clusters within its ecosystem. At present, however, it remains unclear how these associate models are used in practice and of what elements such models consist. Without an overview of what associate models consist of, the concept of software ecosystem orchestration will remain elusive. In this paper, a conceptual overview is presented that describes the structure of an ecosystem associate model. The conceptual overview consists of the roles fulfilled by the participant within the associate commitment, including the dimension of the role as well as resulting benefits, requirements and costs. Furthermore, the conceptual overview enables a categorization into different forms of associate model governance, entry barriers and goals for the three respective models. With the conceptual overview, software ecosystem orchestrators can develop their own associate models and attain insight into the forces that are at play in their own software ecosystem.