Narrow Results

Horizontal supply chains is the term used when suppliers competing at a particular level of the chain form a coalition to benefit from their cooperation rather than the usual competitive strategies used by them to become part of the supply chain. Such horizontal cooperation among competitors is studied by Wood, using qualitative research methodology, based on case studies done in New Zealand. The term "coopetition" is used in the literature to describe such a cooperative behavior among competitors. In this paper we examine the coopetition phenomenon from a game theoretic perspective and give a model that brings out the equilibria that will lead to optimal participation among the coalition partners. The model considers a set of growers who can choose to form a coopetitive alliance to market their production in some external regions, while competing within the internal regions. By means of a general analytical framework of competition, we show the strategies that could provide solutions, in a coopetitive perspective, for the growers. These solutions offer a win–win outcome for the growers, letting them share the pie fairly within a growth path of games. We determine the proportion of resources they'll use and how the gain will be shared.

Coopetition is defined as the existence of simultaneous competition and cooperation between the same set of players, leading to entanglement of payoffs and actions of the players. This paper provides insights into the game theoretical application of quantum games to model simultaneity and entanglement that occur in coopetition. Modeling as a quantum game also allows for a larger action space and hence new equilibrium that may not have existed earlier. The impact of the level of entanglement on the equilibrium of the game can also be studied. We demonstrate the same through an example of two players who currently compete in the domestic market and are considering cooperating simultaneously in the international market. They need to determine the equilibrium strategy to adopt under coopetition that maximizes their payoffs. We also arrive at how to ensure that the quantum strategy is the equilibrium strategy for both players, namely, how to design the quantum strategy and how to define the unitary operator.

This study contributes to the better understanding of coopetition. First, we research the performance of coopetition and its management antecedents. Second, we study the relational context by analyzing different mixtures of trust and dependency. Our results of 469 firms indicate that (a) coopetition requires different facets of an alliance-management system depending on the mix of trust and dependency, and (b) most surprisingly, a high trust/high dependency environment fosters the relationship of coopetition and performance outcomes the most. We contribute to the understanding of coopetition as a strategy associated with different mixes of trust and dependency.

Companies develop co-creation platforms to collect innovative ideas generated by consumers. The idea competition model is traditionally used to organise such collective action and has been widely implemented by companies. In parallel, the development of collaborative platforms and social networks have led to the appearance of co-creation platforms based on a cooperation model with community features. In addition to these two classical models, a third model, a combination of competition and cooperation — the coopetition model — has emerged. Although there is growing interest in this model, no study to date has compared its performance to the other two models. Our research objective is to investigate and compare how these three models affect creative performance in terms of idea quantity and quality. We thus conducted an experiment with 177 students to generate ideas that were submitted to an established company. The results show that the coopetition model generates more ideas and more creative ideas than the other two models. We also offer insights on how a consumer co-creation platform should be designed to achieve better creative performance.

R&D projects between multiple partners have been examined by various disciplines at the macro-, micro- and meso-level. Even though scholars have acknowledged the possibility that both competitive and non-competitive partners participate in such projects, we still lack a holistic perspective on their complex interactions. This paper builds on open innovation and coopetition literature to explore the influence of research partners and clusters on the relationships between competing companies in different project phases of R&D projects. The study is based on insights from five coopetitive R&D projects in mature industries. Findings revealed the need for simultaneous involvement of research partners and clusters when establishing the collaboration in the pre-project phase, while research partners have dominant roles in balancing coopetition in both the pre-project and project implementation phases. Propositions are offered to inform future studies and managerial implications are discussed.

The aim of this research is to study the impact of inter-organisational strategies on performance of radical product innovation. We distinguish three kinds of strategies: (1) individual strategy, (2) cooperation with non-rivals strategy, and (3) coopetition strategy. We study innovation at the product level, and we analyse the market performance. We develop and test the hypotheses comparing the effects of these three strategies on the market performance of radical product innovation. An empirical research is carried out to study the video game publishing industry. We perform a quantitative analysis on a sample of 100 video games that involve radical innovations, identified among 822 video games launched between 2006 and 2011. The main results show that coopetition is the most fruitful strategy for developing a radical innovation. In this process, a direct competitor becomes the best and the most viable partner for that type of innovation.

Companies develop co-creation platforms to collect innovative ideas generated by consumers. The idea competition model is traditionally used to organise such collective action and has been widely implemented by companies. In parallel, the development of collaborative platforms and social networks have led to the appearance of co-creation platforms based on a cooperation model with community features. In addition to these two classical models, a third model, a combination of competition and cooperation — the coopetition model — has emerged. Although there is growing interest in this model, no study to date has compared its performance to the other two models. Our research objective is to investigate and compare how these three models affect creative performance in terms of idea quantity and quality. We thus conducted an experiment with 177 students to generate ideas that were submitted to an established company. The results show that the coopetition model generates more ideas and more creative ideas than the other two models. We also offer insights on how a consumer co-creation platform should be designed to achieve better creative performance.

The increasing number of publications focusing on the concept of coopetition stands in contrast to competition research, by attempting to address and understand the interplay between cooperative and competitive interactions. This emergent research stream has benefited from numerous theoretical, less often empirical studies, attempting to describe the cooperation/competition balance at various levels of analysis: The individual, organisational, inter-organisational and network levels. Yet, research at the firm level is still scarce, and no study has specifically explored the coopetition phenomenon in post-acquisition settings. This chapter aims to address this issue, by discussing the coopetition dynamics that emerge among units and firms that belong to the same organisation. The original value of this study lies in the development, review and assessment of a new framework, which combines cooperative and competitive forces within organisations, while offering new grounds for theoretical developments around the concept of coopetition. Coopetitive relationships influence organisational structures, policies, as well as coordination processes between the partner firms. Finally, the research proposes theoretical as well as operational implications for the management of intra-organisational interactions in late integration phases. These are reviewed as to the strategic decisions that are required for the management of intellectual assets and of corporate risk-adjustment schemes.