This paper aims to provide an explanatory representation of the concept of ecosystem by mean of a systemic review of a selected sample of research papers hinged on the study of ecosystems in the field of management and business. Reviewed papers were selected according to a multistep process and the following criteria: 1) coverage of a comprehensive range of business and management-related peer-reviewed journals chosen from Scopus database; 2) timeframe of the investigated topic restricted to the period 1993-2019; 3) papers mainly focused on providing a general framework on ecosystems drawn from research. This paper represents an attempt to give a systemic representation of the existing research on the definition of ecosystem. This study has implications not only for researchers, but also for business practitioners. By means of this literature review it is possible to properly interpret, according to the criteria selected, the concept of ecosystem as depicted in the field of management and business.