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When firms collaborate with their competitors (i.e., engage in coopetition), individual managers play a pivotal role in protecting their firm's sensitive knowledge from potential misuse by partners. But which managers are more successful in performing this role? To better understand the senior-level human resources who help secure a firm's competitive advantage, we build on the Upper Echelons Theory and explore how managers' cognitions and values, as expressed in their demographic characteristics, influence knowledge protection in coopetitive relationships. To test our hypotheses, we use multi-source, time-lagged data on a sample of 176 small and medium-sized firms involved in coopetition. Our results suggest that managers' tenure and female gender relate positively to knowledge protection, which in turn contributes to subsequent firm performance, whereas managers' age and higher education impact knowledge protection negatively. On this basis, our study helps develop micro-macro linkages between the Upper Echelons Theory and the Resource-Based View, and reveals how different managerial characteristics influence knowledge protection, thereby threatening or securing sustainable firm performance. We discuss the implications for knowledge protection processes and human resource management.

Celem opracowania była identyfikacja najważniejszych uwarunkowań kooperencji gospodarstw rolnych w sektorze rolno-żywnościowym na przykładzie województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego. Badania z wykorzystaniem kwestionariusza ankiety zostały przeprowadzone w 2021 r. na próbie badawczej, która liczyła 155 podmiotów (największy w niej udział miały gospodarstwa rolnicze, jednostki samorządu gospodarczego, związki branżowe, przedsiębiorstwa przetwórcze oraz agencje rządowe zajmujące się problematyką gospodarki żywnościowej i rozwojem obszarów wiejskich). Wyniki badań wskazują, że respondenci mieli świadomość potencjalnych korzyści wynikających z kooperencji – wskazywali przede wszystkim na szanse zwiększania sprzedaży, obniżenia kosztów oraz uzyskania większej siły przetargowej w relacjach z dostawcami i odbiorcami. Określając podstawowe bariery rozwoju kooperencji w sektorze rolno-żywnościowym, badani wskazywali przede wszystkim niską świadomość części środowiska biznesowego, niechęć do współpracy firm między sobą oraz brak modeli rozwoju kooperencji. W wymiarze instytucjonalnym szczególną rolę w implementacji kooperencji należy przypisywać podmiotom doradczym, samorządowi gospodarczemu, związkom branżowym oraz instytucjom naukowym. Uwarunkowania rozwoju kooperencji gospodarstw rolnych w województwie warmińsko-mazurskim obejmują nie tylko endogeniczne, ale przede wszystkim egzogeniczne czynniki kształtujące możliwości większego zaangażowania badanych podmiotów we współpracę strategiczną w sektorze rolno-żywnościowym. Wywnioskowano, że luka kooperencyjna gospodarstw rolniczych może być znacząco ograniczona przez większe zaangażowanie w procesy integracyjne m.in. przemysłu spożywczego. Bardzo istotne pozostaje również inspirowanie działań integracyjnych przez instytucje regulacyjne związane z rozwojem gospodarczym regionu.

PurposeCitizenship behaviours are used in organisation studies to explain their effectiveness and to capture the role of unsolicited, extra-role behaviours. Recent extensions towards the interorganisational context provide evidence that Interorganisational Citizenship Behaviours (ICBs) are important in facilitating supply chain operations and cluster innovation activities. This study took stock of citizenship behaviours literature within and among organisations, in order to develop and validate a measurement scale for ICBs useful in the food industry and beyond.Design/methodology/approachDeparting from a literature driven 10-dimensional construct, Th authors proceeded with validating our scale in the South African craft brewing industry. The authors ran a face validation, followed by confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses on a sample of 108 expert informants. The authors ran nomological tests through correlation and regression analysis. Finally, logical analysis was done to ensure the theoretical integrity of the mathematical indications.FindingsThe authors found support that the model consisting of interorganisational magnanimity, interorganisational advancement and interorganisational constructiveness, is relevant for value creation within coopetitive networks. The purified scale included three psychometrically distinct ICBs dimensions, measured by 31 items.Practical implicationsManagers can benefit from adequately identifying ICB in their environment, and among their competitors in particular. The study’s measurement scale offers a useful tool for an initial monitoring of firms in their competitive environment.Originality/valueThe authors extended and advanced prior research on the ICB construct by providing a rigorously validated, parsimonious measurement scale of ICBs. The authors bridged the ICB and coopetition literature to better understand spontaneous extra-role coopetitive network facilitating behaviours.

This presentation describes the strategic need for the wind energy industry to pursue coopetition as a core strategy for decarbonization and deployment. It highlights several mechanisms for coopetition including open source software, open standards, joint ventures and Co-innovation. This was presented at the Consortium for Energy and Data Science at Texas A&M University on March 29, 2023.

International audience; Although coopetition literature developed a lot for years, several dimensions remain under-studied. This paper addresses three of these gaps. First, the dilemma between value creation and value appropriation for coopetitors; second, the lack of empirical studies regarding the mechanisms of coopetition among micro-firms in traditional activities; third, the recent interest for geographic levels in coopetition, with a focus on the local level. Our research question is therefore: What are the mechanisms of value creation and value appropriation in local-level coopetition among micro-firms in traditional industries?We use an in-depth case study about a small French wine appellation, which is characterised by a modestly sized cultivated area occupied by small micro-firms, the existence of a cooperative cellar, but also a weak brand image.Our research contributes to the ongoing coopetition discussion in three ways: we enrich the literature on coopetition by documenting value creation and appropriation mechanisms, identifying nine different mechanisms that are collective or individual; we provide some empirical insights to coopetition literature regarding micro-firms and local-level coopetition; we produce some managerial recommendations.

Cooperation and competition are often viewed as incompatible, antagonistic forces, thus are operationalized as two extremes on a continuum. However, they can coexist and even enable each other, thus may be operationalized as orthogonal constructs. We address this contradictory phenomenon by developing a more granular view of the cooperation–competition paradox. Building on interdisciplinary research, we develop a three-dimensional model of relational space (fairness–opportunism, sharing–control, and engagement–rivalry), providing a novel tool with which to investigate the paradoxical interplay between cooperation and competition through eight operationalizable configurations. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we test our model by assessing how different configurations of interfirm relationships influence the short- and long-term success of a sample of 217 firms. Our findings show that only two of the eight possible relational configurations are associated with firm success, one in both the long and short term, and the other in the short term only.

In this introductory chapter, we raise three fundamental questions about the emerging construct and increasingly, the research field of digital strategy: Why is digital strategy relevant as a separate, independent strategy field? What is new about the phenomena that digital strategy focuses on and the theories it underpins? How does this new thinking relate to and depart from shared theories’ assumptions and predictions of the literature on the received strategy? Far from offering a comprehensive review of the strategy field and a systematic comparison to it, we rather present a parsimonious account of these three questions, mainly to introduce this Research Handbook and the contributions to it. We discuss what is new in the digital age and how strategizing in this new context differs from traditional strategy. We advance a prima facie definition of digital strategy and highlight a few themes from each chapter’s contributions to this volume that illustrate how digital strategy is different from traditional strategy.

Recent academic research presents a large volume of studies on the organic market from the perspective of consumers’ motivation and purchasing preferences. However, these studies adopt a competitive or cooperative approach, but overlook the institutional complexity of emerging markets. This study aims to investigate the organic food production chain of emerging countries from the perspective of coopetition, taking into account the influence of formal institution agents. We focused our analysis on the chain of the organic food products, with the organic ice-cream producer as the key node of the chain. It is a single-case study conducted through in loco interviews with participants in the organic food products’ chain, along with secondary data. The results show the influence of formal institution agents and non-financial incentives as primary drivers of entrepreneurial strategic decisions. We contributed to the coopetition literature by demonstrating the influence of formal institution agents on value creation and value capture in the organic chain.

Companies rely widely on coopetition, that is, cooperation with competitors, to foster their innovation. However, despite its increasing popularity, the impact of coopetition on innovation remains unclear. Different theories predict different results, and empirical evidence suggests that coopetition can either improve or reduce innovation performance, or even make no impact. The lack of consensus makes further exploration of this important relationship essential. Our study attempts to shed new light on the impact of sourcing from competitors on innovation, using a data-driven exploratory model that needs no prior specification of the direction and form of this relationship. We use a recently developed analytical method based on the preference disaggregation approach to analyze data from a sample of 112 firms operating in the petroleum, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. We find that sourcing from competitors fosters the innovation performance of firms with financial constraints (small firms receiving no financial support from the government for innovation). In contrast, our results show that sourcing from competitors has a non-linear negative impact on large and small firms receiving such financial support, and that sourcing from competitors is much riskier for small firms in this category. Our findings contribute to the coopetition for innovation literature by highlighting that the relationship between sourcing from competitors and innovation performance depends on firm characteristics, i.e., size and financial capability. Our use of a preference disaggregation method confirms its value when studying relationships between variables where the conceptual and empirical evidence leaves this relationship unclear.

Les plateformes de crowdsourcing d’idées favorisent le travail de co-création. Pour les internautes, elles se révèlent comme des espaces d’expression reflétant leur pouvoir d’agir. De manière paradoxale, elles peuvent être considérées comme des espaces de mise au travail, la pu-blicisation de l’idée impliquant un transfert de propriété au profit de l’entité organisatrice. L’objectif de cette recherche, basée sur l’analyse empirique d’une plateforme, est de mieux comprendre le système des valeurs et les arrangements mis en œuvre par les acteurs pour justifier leurs pratiques. En nous appuyant sur le modèle conventionnaliste des « Economies de la grandeur » de Boltanski et Thevenot, nous mettons en avant la juxtaposition de deux régimes de justification. Si le principe de rivalité constitue un puissant levier de captation des internautes, le re-gistre de justification de la cité par projets s’impose comme modèle de référence chez les acteurs les plus centraux.

This research aims to delineate how the family principle has been regarded and understood in Indonesia's Economy. Furthermore, it seeks to comprehensively understand the family principle to prevent further misconceptions or multi-interpretations. The method used is the qualitative approach that is based on literary studies. Besides providing the advantage of being exploratory in nature, the approach is suitable for studies in the environment of economic theory as researchers attempt to gain understanding through the thoughts and interpretation building of significant figures in the Indonesian economy. Overall, it is evident that cooperation and competition are the two crucial and equally important elements of the family principle to understand the concept comprehensively. Thus, the research concluded that both concepts had been integrated into the family principle as coopetition, whereas all economic institutions recognized by the constitution simultaneously compete and cooperate.

Coopetition is a business phenomenon that dominates many supply chains. We aim to understand why and how coopetition occurs in supply chains with the presence of process improvement in upstream component production. An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) can purchase the component from either a non-competing supplier (NS) or a competing supplier (CS) that also sells substitutable products in the end consumer market. We demonstrate that without process improvement, coopetition does not exist, because the OEM prefers sourcing from the NS, even though the CS is willing to sell the component to the OEM. Two cases are considered in which process improvement is present: supplier-initiated investment, where the suppliers conduct self-investment, and OEM-initiated investment, where the OEM invests in the supplier's process. We find that with supplier-initiated investment, the CS always prefers coopetition, but the OEM may not. When the investment is efficient, coopetition occurs as an equilibrium outcome; otherwise, competition occurs. The cause of coopetition equilibrium comes from variable process improvement incentives of the CS that derive from two driving forces: the vertical wholesale price effect and the horizontal quantity competition effect. When the degree of product substitution is low, the CS increases its investment and lowers its wholesale price, benefiting the OEM. When the degree of product substitution is high, the CS reduces its investment as well as production quantity, which also benefits the OEM. Interestingly, with OEM-initiated investment, the CS might not always choose to sell the component to the OEM, and as a result, coopetition never occurs.

Although the advantages of a market orientation (the organisation-wide implementation of the marketing concept) are well-known, many smaller-sized (and under-resourced) companies struggle to satisfy their customers' wants and needs. Therefore, grounded in resource-based theory and the relational view (as well as drawing upon an outside-in marketing perspective), this current study examines whether collaborating with competitors (coopetition) enhances the market orientation – customer satisfaction performance relationship. Based on a mixed methods research approach involving the New Zealand tourism and hospitality sector, the findings showed that while a market orientation positively impacts customer satisfaction performance, surprisingly, this association was negatively moderated by coopetition. A post-hoc test (via a three-way interaction effect) revealed that industry experience can stabilise the potentially harmful consequences of coopetition by allowing decision-makers to cooperate with suitable rivals (those that are trustworthy and target complementary product-markets) to help them achieve mutually-beneficial outcomes. In short, it is sometimes not enough to be market-oriented. Instead, owner-managers are typically best-served if they can coordinate a combination of activities featuring a market orientation, coopetition, and “appropriate” industry experience to create “synergistic” results.

Стаття присвячена питанню коопетиції «бізнес-наука» та, зокрема, аналізу платформи S2BMM для коопетиції «бізнес-наука» для дослідження досвіду та перспектив для України. Обґрунтовано, що в Україні досить складним є питання співпраці бізнесу та науки. Вчені часто стикаються з проблемою нереалізованого потенціалу. Багато перспективних ідей і проєктів часто залишаються непоміченими. Український бізнес, у свою чергу, більше схиляється до іноземних партнерів для розробки нового наукового продукту. Отже, лише невелика кількість підприємців звертає увагу на українських науковців. Тим не менш, український бізнес і наука мають великий потенціал для розвитку інновацій, але головним аспектом є те, щоб потреба була помічена іншими суб’єктами господарювання та партнерами, які зможуть профінансувати та взяти продукт на впровадження. Таким чином, основною метою дослідження є аналіз нової платформи для коопетиції бізнесу та науки в нових реаліях, визначення можливостей та перспектив онлайн-платформи «Science 2 Business» для коопетиції «бізнес-наука». Бібліометричний аналіз даних наукометричної бази Scopus за допомогою програмного забезпечення VosViewer та інструментарію бази даних Scopus дозволив порівняти кількість проіндексованих публікацій за такими пошуковими запитами, як «коопетиція «бізнес-наука», «співпраця «бізнес-наука»» та «платформа для співпраці «бізнес-наука»» в назвах, анотаціях та ключових словах проіндексованих видань. Також було проведено динамічний аналіз зацікавленості та публікаційної активності науковців щодо платформи співпраці «бізнес-наука». Завдяки бібліометричному аналізу створено візуалізаційну карту на основі бібліометричних даних бази даних Scopus та виділено 5 кластерів досліджень у цій науковій сфері. Визначено особливості коопетиції «бізнес-наука», переваги та перспективи використання онлайнплатформи для коопетиції бізнесу та науковців. Розглянуто можливості, які надає майданчик для співпраці для кожного учасника. Також були проаналізовані сучасні наукові проєкти, які успішно працюють на території України. The article is devoted to the issue of “business-science” coopetition and especially the analysis of S2BMM platform for “business-science” coopetition to investigate experience and prospects for Ukraine. It is grounded that the issue of coopetition between business and scientists is quite difficult in Ukraine. Scientists often face the problem of unrealized potential. Many good ideas and projects often go unnoticed. Ukrainian business, in turn, is more inclined to foreign partners for the development of a new scientific product. So, a small number of entrepreneurs pay attention to Ukrainian scientists. Nevertheless, Ukrainian business and science have a great potential for developing innovations, but the main aspect is the need being noticed by other economic agents and partners, who will be able to finance and take the product for implementation. Thus, the main research purpose is to analyse a new platform for coopetition between business and science in new realities, to determine opportunities and prospects of “Science 2 Business” online platform for “business-science” coopetition. The bibliometric analysis of the Scopus data using the VosViewer software, and the Scopus toolkit allowed to compare the number of indexed publications by the search request, as ““business-science” coopetition”, ““businessscience” cooperation” and ““business-science” cooperation platform” in titles, abstracts, and keywords of indexed publications. The dynamic analysis of scholars’ interest and publishing activity on the issue of “businessscience” cooperation platform was also conducted. Due to bibliometric analysis the map based on the bibliometric data from the Scopus database was created, and 5 clusters of research in this scientific sphere were identified. The peculiarities of “business-science” coopetition, the advantages, and prospects of using an online platform for coopetition between business and scientists were determined. The opportunities provided by the collaboration platform for each participant were considered. Modern scientific projects that are successful on the territory of Ukraine were also analysed.

Standards may be arrived at through various coordination mechanisms, including cooperation, coopetition, or competition. This article explores how technological uncertainty affects the coordination mechanism for standardization. The article is based on the Community Innovation Survey, a sizeable firm-level survey representative of the Luxembourgish economy. The econometric analysis finds evidence that firms facing technological uncertainty will choose for standardization through competition and coopetition.

Die vorliegende Studie geht der Fragestellung nach, wie sich eine anbieterübergreifende, abonnementbasierte Plattform für den digitalen Journalismus, also eine Art Spotify im Journalismus, auf die Umsätze der Anbieter journalistischer Inhalte und die Abonnements im Digitaljournalismus in Deutschland auswirken würde.

Technology that develops rapidly has profoundly affected the business field and reshaped some behaviours of corporations, and the discussion on startup risk-taking behaviour in the new era is still insufficient. Based on social network theory and social capital theory, this article studies how social networks and entrepreneurial ecosystems support startup risk-taking behaviour. This article cuts into this issue through the perspective of coopetition. Based on 737 responses, this article employs regression and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to explore the relationships between networks, ecosystem coopetition, and risk-taking behaviour. Results indicate that networks and coopetition may stimulate startup risk-taking behaviour, and coopetition may weaken the impacts of networks. There are replacement effects between different characteristics of networks, and there are several configurations, which may lead to high-level risk-taking. This article may help us understand startup risk-taking behaviour in the digital era and the positive impacts of ecosystems.

Purpose This study aims to set out to develop and validate a new instrument to measure the multi-dimensional nature of co-opetition in corporate responsibility and sustainability (CRS). It is anticipated that this instrument will prove useful to firms wanting to adopt measures that support relevant sustainability strategies. Design/methodology/approach The scale development concerns three separate components, namely, item generation through expert interviews; a pilot study conducted for scale purification; and a final study for scale confirmation and validation, respectively. The final study comprises 215 firms across 11 sectors in Australia that engage in co-opetitive alliances for CRS activities. Findings This study empirically validates the distinctiveness of three dimensions (commonality-driven, competition-driven and collaboration-driven) of co-opetition in relation to CRS resulting in a 15-item multi-dimensional scale. The three dimensions were found to be important aspects both in terms of scale validity and organisational consideration. Research limitations/implications This study proposes a new research area regarding the proposed framework, as well as practical strategies for practitioners when considering co-opetition and their firm’s engagement in CRS activities. Originality/value Prior studies in similar areas have mainly comprised conceptual or qualitative approaches and do not tend to focus on all three aspects of co-opetition, corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Purpose Coopetition includes cooperation and competition, sometimes simultaneously, among firms from a specific industry involved in a merger and acquisition (M&A) operation. However, despite their high number, most mergers end in failure. Therefore, looking at how firms cooperate and compete when planning a merger operation can be a key to better understand post-merger integration, set achievable synergies for both parties and better understand the organizational culture of both companies. Also, external events in a rapidly changing environment can affect the global strategy of organizations and impact the desire for firms to engage in mergers and acquisitions. Design/methodology/approach The author investigates how merger negotiations were conducted and influence coopetition among two firms engaged in such an operation. The author describes the project merger of two French companies using longitudinal data. Findings This in-depth case study provides new insights into coopetition dynamics during merger negotiations and the influence of a global crisis on the overall strategy of two firms. The authors specifically detail how cooperation and competition were present in M&A negotiations and how the rapidly changing environment influenced the planned operation. First, cooperation was privileged as companies enhanced information sharing and communication for their joint strategy. Then, with the evolution of the environment, new opportunities were given to the target company, which decided to quit the merger project. Therefore, both firms engaged in a competitive context as the crisis helped the target company (in difficulty at the beginning of negotiations) to develop new projects and to become a real rival of the acquiring company in its local ecosystem. Research limitations/implications The limitations are those concerning a single case study. Practical implications The study highlights the complexity of merger negotiations and the unexpected events faced by integration stakeholders. The analysis, thus, contributes to an inclusive and integrative view of the challenges in the merger process. The study questions coopetition issues in regional clusters as both firms operate in the same industry in the same region. For practitioners, the study questions how to balance the risks and rewards of coopetition activities over time. The case addresses information sharing in coopetition projects and the fear that the data and information revealed during negotiations will affect the company’s competitive advantage once the merger plan is abandoned. In the context of the rapidly changing environmental crisis, managers will reflect on continuing to cooperate with their competitors or pursuing their activities on their own. Social implications Despite their high number, M&A failures remain surprisingly high. This study explores how stakeholders deal with merger negotiations and how external events impact such negotiations and merger projects by raising coopetitive tensions among firms. Originality/value The case provides a vivid illustration of firms’ adaptation to a rapidly evolving context due to a global crisis. The research questions coopetition in business ecosystems and the unexpected in merger processes. The study addresses critical risks in knowledge exchange during merger negotiations and coopetitive dynamics among stakeholders over time. Theoretical concepts and empirical findings from the literature are combined to present a single consistent picture.

This paper investigates whether and how interfirm coopetition—the combination of cooperation and competition—affects collaborative innovation performance in competitive environments. We address this issue by introducing interfirm knowledge creation as a mediating mechanism based on knowledge creation theory and by examining the moderating effects of environmental competitiveness and dysfunctional competition. The hypotheses are tested using survey data from a sample of 170 Chinese high-tech firms. The results show that interfirm knowledge creation mediates the impact of interfirm coopetition on collaborative innovation performance. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the positive relationship between interfirm coopetition and interfirm knowledge creation is stronger under higher levels of environmental competitiveness but weaker under higher levels of dysfunctional competition. The positive relationship between interfirm knowledge creation and collaborative innovation performance is more evident under higher levels of environmental competitiveness. These findings enrich the interfirm coopetition literature, contribute to knowledge creation theory by extending it to the interfirm context, and provide a better understanding and useful advice for enterprise managers and government officials.

The deployment of 5G urban networks is often described as a disruptive phenomenon since it enables new emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as connected vehicles. Such applications demand new spectrum regulations to decrease network investment requirements by incentivizing operator cooperation. However, currently, no clear consensus exists on the appropriate regulatory regime for such an urban deployment. This work explores two main alternative regulatory scenarios for a connected vehicle use case. Both alternatives lower implementation costs while promoting competition. The first alternative is to maintain the current scheme of spectrum assignment while facilitating additional flexibility for infrastructure sharing (ex-post competition). The second alternative is to define local areas for monopoly 5G provisioning and define the conditions for competition ex-ante. Through agent-based simulations, this work shows that a local licensing of spectrum scenario may achieve better performance than alternative scenarios with traditional spectrum assignment. Additional sensitivity checks also help detail the practical trade-offs.

Mobile Crowd Sensing (MCS) enables the platform to offer data-based service by incentivizing mobile users to perform sensing task and then collecting sensing data from them. Most of the existing works on MCS only consider designing incentive mechanisms for a single MCS platform. In this paper, we study the incentive mechanism in MCS with multiple platforms under two scenarios: with competitive platforms and with cooperative platforms, and correspondingly propose new competitive or cooperative mechanisms for each scenario. In the competitive platform scenario, platforms decide their prices on rewards to attract more participants, while the users choose which platform to work for. We model such a competitive platform scenario as a two-stage Stackelberg game. In the cooperative platform scenario, platforms cooperate to share sensing data with each other. We model it as many-to-many bargaining. Moreover, we prove the NP-hardness of exact bargaining and then propose heuristic bargaining. Finally, numerical results show that (1) platforms in the competitive platform scenario can guarantee their payoff by optimally pricing on rewards and participants can select the best platform to contribute; (2) platforms in the cooperative platform scenario can further improve their payoff by bargaining with other platforms for cooperatively sharing collected sensing data.

Developing solutions to sustainability challenges requires cooperation among various firms and actors in different industries and sectors (e.g., regulatory authorities, nonprofit organizations). Prior studies investigate sustainability-related coopetition tensions in bilateral relationships; this article instead considers tensions at a broader, value net level and highlights the dark side of business relationships for firms engaged in coopetition. Qualitative analyses, based on interviews with 31 experts from the automotive industry, highlight how innovative efforts to achieve environmental sustainability can generate detrimental environmental and societal impacts. Specifically, the authors identify four sustainable innovation tensions, at the firm level and the value net level. They outline the aggregate economic, social, and ecological sustainability impacts, as well as the critical need for an exhaustive definition of the value net and which factors influence coopetition in sustainability efforts.

The era of industry 4.0 is a digital revolution characterized by the fusion or collaboration between cyber and automation technology. Not only in production processes, but also in almost all parts of economic value chains thus new business model based on digital technology to achieve high efficiency and better quality is created. As a part of creative industry, publishing faces the development and demand to change brought by industry 4.0, from business model, product and services innovation, to marketing and target users. This paper explains the development, challenge, opportunity, and effort related profession disruption faced by publishing professionals in industry 4.0 era. The review in this paper was done by conducting literature and empirical studies. The result shows that publishing professionals must strive to transform mindset and work process in publishing world. Those transformation can be achieved by competency improvement through increasing knowledge in publishing management, building coopetition between fellow publishing professionals, and consistent orientation for users’ needs. It is important for publishing professionals to view this phenomenon as a challenge that brings many possibilities for the development towards publishing 4.0Â

Purpose This paper aims to develop an understanding of cooperation and collaboration in the natural wine industry in Spain as well as a deeper understanding of the challenges facing natural wine producers in the 21st century. Design/methodology/approach Field interviews using a structured questionnaire were conducted with five Spanish producers of natural wine in five different regions during fall 2018 and late spring 2019. Interviewers prompted respondents to expound upon the potential of incorporating cooperative relationships to help producers grow their businesses, share production and marketing techniques and explain how they educate consumers about natural wines. Findings Content analysis among five field-researched case studies reveals common goals and challenges, but Spanish natural wine producers have not reached a consensus on the benefits of cooperative relationships. Respondents acknowledge that their indecisiveness and consumer confusion about natural wines are barriers to working together. Research limitations/implications Generalizations from a sample comprised five companies cannot be made, nor can we claim that respondents were unbiased. Respondents were reluctant to release financial and production data; thus, the outcomes of coopetition strategies were indeterminate. It may be that a coopetition strategy is only positive up to a fixed point, upon which a diminishing-returns effect is manifested. Observations were made during a period when the Spanish wine industry was contracting, as political uncertainty in that country and post-Brexit clouded the future of tourism in and exports from certain Spanish wine regions. Practical implications Collaboration and cooperation would afford Spanish natural wine access to shared resources, networks and farming technology and knowhow to enhance the image and reputation of natural wine in Spain and internationally. Social implications To explore how cooperative and collaborative relationships might be achieved, five case studies of natural wine producers in Spain illuminate their real-life challenges and goals. Cooperative relationships among these producers have the potential to contribute to industry growth and value creation, while creating shared competitive advantages. As these niche producers weigh how to come to a consensus about pooling resources and working together to educate the prospective natural wine consumer, doing so may well lead the next wave of entrepreneurial, innovative activity in an industry that is ripe for change. Originality/value To explore how natural wine producers face the challenge to increase transparency in its production and to help consumer to know what natural wine is. In the Old World, the French Fraud Control Office recognized the category “vin méthode nature” (wine nature method) as a special wine. It was the first step towards helping consumers to reduce the information asymmetries existing between the productive and consumption fields, increasing transparency in natural wines production.

Purpose Coopetition is the simultaneous cooperation and competition among firms operating in a specific market. It is particularly relevant in tourism where many competing suppliers (hotels in this case) contribute to the facilitation and delivery of the tourism product, i.e. the destination. By engaging in cooperative arrangements, firms can increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the tourism product and subsequently demand for individual firms. This study aims to explore the three types of benefits derived from cooperative relationships in the context of the hotel industry, as well as the link between coopetition and market performance. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts several scales from prior research to survey 475 hotels in the USA. Specifically, respondents were asked to evaluate their performance with regard to the three benefits of coopetition. The responses were used to model the benefits of coopetition as a higher-order construct in a two-stage partial least squares model. In the second stage, the higher-order construct was linked to perceived hotel performance and the respondents’ RevPAR index. Findings The results show that perceived benefits from coopetition are positively associated with hotel performance. Specifically, the model depicts positive links between the coopetition construct and the hotels’ perceived performance, as well as their RevPAR index. Interestingly, the results were not as strong for index performance and may be due to the relative nature of the measure. Research limitations/implications This study supports the notion that coopetition alliances between hotels provide a viable avenue for performance growth. Specifically, managers should consider working together to allocate resources strategically to grow the pie. It is important that managers measure the benefits of cooperative relationships outside of competitive index scores as these metrics may be relative to the cooperative arrangement. Originality/value The study is the first to investigate the three benefits of coopetition in the context of the hotel industry. Specifically, it is the first to establish a positive link between firm coopetition and perceived performance in the hotel industry at the firm level.

The purpose of this investigation, underpinned by resource-based theory, involves unpacking the complexity of coopetition activities (interplay between cooperation and competition) among family-owned firms. The methods involve 20 field interviews and statistical analysis of 302 family-owned wine producers in the United States. Principal findings establish the non-linear (inverted U-shaped) nature of the coopetition-performance relationship within family-owned firms. Furthermore, competitive intensity negatively moderated the non-linear relationship between coopetition and company performance and a positive moderation effect existed from a competitor orientation. Additionally, unique insights illustrate the importance of utilising social capital in building relationships with trustworthy and complementary partners within and across clusters to enhance the performance consequences of firms’ product-market strategies; that is, both in their domestic market and internationally. The non-linear coopetition-performance relationship suggests decision-makers should not engage in too little or too much coopetition and have an exit strategy if things do not work out as planned.

Notwithstanding the increasing interest in coopetition, relevant research is still composed of loosely connected themes with little contextual focus. Little attention has been paid to explain coopetition at multiple stages and levels, in various industries, and between micro-firms. This paper addresses these gaps by proposing a multi-level mechanism, unravelling the relationship between coopetition management, value co-creation, knowledge-enhancement, and superior performance achievement in micro-businesses. Using qualitative methods, we look at the non-high tech alpaca industry. Results reveal that the successful coopetition management in various coopetition stages, at an individual, organizational, and industry level, leads to value co-creation, knowledge-enhancement, and to the VRIO resources development, and thus drive positive outcomes for the individuals and organizations engaged and for the industry as a whole. This mechanism is influenced by industrial, market, and institutional factors.

PurposeThe authors selected global automobile manufacturing firms whose sales ranked within 100 in the five years from 2014 to 2018 in the Factiva database to examine how the characteristics of a firm's whole network and ego-network in a transnational coopetition network influence network performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyzed the public news of the sample firms about the coopetition by structural content analysis to build the coopetition networks and access to data on the competitive actions of firms. Then, to measure the variables associated with the coopetition network, such as the structural hole, centrality and ego-network stability, the authors use UCINET 6 that is a widely used piece of software for social network analysis to establishing five undirected binary adjacency matrices.FindingsThe authors find that a firm's competitive aggressiveness mediates the relationship between a firm's whole network position and network performance that emphasizes the need for integrating competitive dynamics research and coopetition research and shows how valuable insights can be gained through such integration. And the interaction of structural hole and centrality impacts competitive aggressiveness and network performance, and the interaction is different under high and low ego-network stability. The integration of whole network and ego-network literature studies provides new insights into firm network literature.Practical implicationsIn the process of cooperation, firms should consider whether they can occupy the structural hole and center as important indicators for partner selection. Too stable relationship will prevent firms from obtaining new resources. Firms should weigh the period of cooperation according to specific situation.Originality/valueThese results indicate that ego-network stability, as an important complementary characteristic of coopetition network, has a significant synergistic effect with structural holes and centrality on competitive aggressiveness and network performance. And these findings expand the current literature on the relationship between characteristics of network, competitive aggressiveness and network performance.

This study explores the little understood concept of the firm’s coopetition capability with coopetition recognition to in order to provide evidence of the firm’s decisions to effectively execute a coopetition strategy. The analysis of 171 Taiwanese travel agents in an environment of high competition and service innovation creation during the period of 2019 shows that the relationship between competitive intensity and a firm’s service innovation is fully mediated by coopetition strategy. However, partial mediation of coopetition strategy exists for complementary resources. We also discover contingent effects of coopetition recognition on coopetition strategy. The empirical and conceptual findings have important implications for understanding the role of coopetition strategy and recognition. They explain how firms employ strategic activities to service innovation and, thus, reduce uncertainty and complexity in a cooperative relationship between the firm and its competitors. While the literature does focus on how coopetition benefits a firm’s performance despite the risks involved, few studies have examined the coopetition strategy mechanism to reveal how it adjusts a firm’s performance by considering the external environment (competitive intensity) and internal resources (complementary resources).

Coopetitive tensions can arise as strategic decisions are imposed on firms that challenge them to pursue competition and collaboration with other organizations. Regulators—such as the state—can interfere in merger strategies. Using a longitudinal case study, the objective of the study is: (1) to analyze which regulators influence coopetitive tensions in a merger process (including negotiation and integration stages); and (2) to explore how coopetitive tensions are coped with during the process. We found that the state and customers have architectural roles as regulators during the process (negotiation period, deal, and integration process). We explore coopetition paradox management at different levels (interorganizational, organizational, and individual levels) over the merger process. Points for practitioners Our study sheds light on tensions experienced by managers with conflicting identities at the beginning of the integration and on the way they coped with such tensions. Indeed, our study shed lights on the integration principle as managers were able to transcend the paradox in their decisions and actions implemented at the organizational level through reorganizing the organization and favoring tandem teams and joint piloting.

China’s policy on ecological compensation (eco-compensation) in watershed ecosystems is of economic, social and environmental significance for China’s ecological governance and protection of natural areas. It involves balancing the interests of regional stakeholders, coordinating the development of regional environments and establishing effective cooperation models, making it a classic topic for geographical research. This study introduces the concept of institutional “stickiness” to the theory of politics of scale to analyze the features and mechanisms of the game behavior of government entities in the process of implementing watershed eco-compensation in the Xin’an River Basin. Our results show the following: government entities at various levels, including the central, provincial and municipal governments, experienced the three stages of game strategy of competition, cooperation and “coopetition”; building a government community of shared interests can promote watershed eco-compensation, and “appropriate intervention” by the central government is key to achieving inter-provincial watershed eco-compensation; there was clear institutional stickiness during the transition from a “vertical” model of watershed eco-compensation to a “vertical-horizontal” model, with government entities using policy innovations and social participation to limit and reduce stickiness so as to reshape the watershed eco-compensation system; scalar jumping is the core mechanism that promoted eco-compensation in the study basin, and government entities shaped the discourse on watershed eco-compensation by redistributing powers and capital and creating informal constraints, which promoted the transformation of eco-compensation from a “strong state-weak society” structural model, to a “strong state-strong society” model in the Xin’an River Basin. These results can provide theoretical support for the construction of inter-regional watershed eco-compensation mechanisms, provide a scientific basis for the rational evaluation and guidance of watershed eco-compensation practices, and promote the coordinated and sustainable socioeconomic development of watersheds.

There is limited understanding of whether ‘familiness’ strengthens or hampers the firms’ willingness to engage in coopetition. In this study, based on a sample of entire 79 savings banks in South Korea, we investigated their ownership structure and participation in the project-financing consortium (coopetition among savings banks) for the period between 2013 and 2019. Unlike the predominant idea that family firms are isolated and seek high independence from external parties, the results show that family-owned savings banks are more involved in collaboration with competitors than non-family counterparts. Also, the positive role of ‘familiness’ in the coopetition activity is more pronounced as the ratio of outside directors in the company increased. By directly associating the unique strategic characteristics of family firms with the nature of coopetition, this study provides an insight into how ‘familiness’ can strengthen the firms’ participation in coopetition.

Earlier work has indicated that communal wine consumption events (e.g., wine tourism) are driven through employing a market orientation, namely, the firm-wide implementation of the marketing concept. Although market-oriented activities are intended to create value for customers, many vineyards and wineries are small and lack the resources and capabilities that are needed to achieve these outcomes. Consequently, there could be merits in owner-managers employing a collaborative (rather than individualistic) business model to overcome their limited tangible and intangible assets. In practice, this could be undertaken via cooperating with their competitors (coopetition) to help them to host or participate in communal wine consumption events. Therefore, grounded in resource-based theory, this current investigation reviews the literature surrounding these issues (focusing on the wine industry) to develop a conceptual framework examining the relationship between market-oriented activities and communal wine consumption events under the moderating role of coopetition. This provides the wider alcohol-focused community of scholars with new evidence on how a market orientation can be enhanced by wine producers collaborating with rival businesses to create positive experiences for their chosen customer segments. This includes drawing upon “best practices” from several wine-producing nations about how decision-makers can navigate these organisation-wide activities.

Research in the field of coopetition, which describes firms simultaneously competing and collaborating to create value, has recently gained enormous momentum. Over the period of 2015 to 2020, scholars published more high-quality studies on this subject than in the entire 25-year history of coopetition research. Despite the relevance of these contributions, their fragmented nature and disjuncture from prior studies limit a connected understanding of the current standing of the field. Our analysis addresses this gap by systematically reviewing, comparing, and connecting a selected sample of 161 recent articles with the body of research established prior to 2015. Our study makes three main contributions. We (1) structure and connect past and present coopetition research across five identified research dimensions: Antecedents, execution, interaction, outcomes, and levels of coopetition. We (2) supplement this review with a qualitative trend analysis, identifying emerging themes for the future of the field. By combining past and present perspectives with the future outlook, we (3) provide a comprehensive, unique, and updated perspective on coopetition research, unifying it into a cohesive, overarching framework. Lastly, we explain crucial interdependencies and suggest areas for future research before we conclude the study.

Despite substantive evidence showing mixed results on the association between a coopetitive relationship and performance, surprisingly little theory explains the contingencies under which a coopetitive relationship does (or does not) matter to performance. By combining insights from the trust-distrust literature and 18 in-depth managerial conversations, this study unpacks the multidimensional nature of trust (i.e., goodwill and competence) and distrust (i.e., malevolence and discredibility) and suggests that the effect of a coopetitive relationship matters to performance, when both trust and distrust are present (at moderate to high levels), but fails to do so when one of them is low and the other is high. The results based on a sample of Swedish firms provide full support for the hypotheses. In terms of theoretical contributions, this study challenges the old wisdom suggesting trust as good and distrust as bad, extends the current understanding of trust and distrust beyond their one-dimensionality, and provides a novel approach to understanding when a coopetitive relationship performs well and when it does not. In terms of practical relevance, it suggests that firms adopt a paradox mindset (with a focus on both trust and distrust) to unlock the positive potential of a coopetitive relationship.

Digital platforms help develop the open value co-creation strategic alliances, reshape traditional B2B relationships, and promote inclusive social innovation. This research explores the nature of coopetition between the digital platform and its participants. The focus is on how the platform-based alliance balances the contradiction between value creation and appropriation. The support evidence derives from a Stackelberg game in the context of cooperative advertising. Either the platform or the participant supporting advertising in the alliance prompts a Pareto improvement for all players. But the increased profit would be mainly occupied by the dominant platform. The incentive mechanism of profit sharing can promote the alliance to co-create value in a sustainable manner. The game illustrates the significance of cooperative relationships to co-create a larger total value and the existence of an unequal win-win relationship in the strategic alliance. The contradictory logic of cooperation and competition can be accommodated in the platform-based alliance. The dynamic coopetition is involved in a partially convergent interest structure and impacted by power asymmetry. The results highlight the balance between the tensions and harmonies through value creation and appropriation.

Although a body of work surrounds the notion of coopetition (simultaneous cooperation and competition), the complexities of these inter-firm networks remain relatively under-researched. Consequently, this current study infuses resource-based theory and the relational view (alongside drawing upon the outside-in marketing perspective) to evaluate the drivers and outcomes of coopetition activities. The core method involved collecting survey data from a national-level sample of 323 American wine producers. After assessing this information for all major robustness checks, ordinary least squares regression analysis was used in the model-testing stage. The results showed that while a coopetition-oriented mindset, a competitor orientation, inter-firm trust, and competitive intensity positively impact coopetition activities (in a linear manner), there are certain moderating effects that influence these paths. Additionally, coopetition activities yielded a quadratic association with company performance. Business experience negatively affected this link, whereas, there was a positive interaction effect from industry experience. These findings, offer new evidence regarding the risks and potential rewards of coopetition, including mechanisms that decision-makers can utilize to manage these inter-firm relationships.

The importance of cooperation between higher education institutions (HEIs) has increased and allows the development of competitive advantages, particularly through the transfer of knowledge and technology. Establishing well-conceived and well-managed cooperation networks can bring benefits and overcome obstacles. This article assesses the importance of cooperation between HEIs, characterizing the type of partner suitable for the establishment of cooperation and analysing the benefits and barriers that may arise. To achieve this objective, a qualitative approach based on a case study was adopted. Portuguese HEIs cooperating in the Business Simulation (BS) project were analysed. The results obtained reveal that cooperation between HEIs, more specifically in the BS project, is fundamental for the exchange of knowledge, the acquisition of new technology and platforms, and the acquisition of new work practices. However, it will be necessary to overcome barriers, principally of a more technological nature. This study uses a new and innovative structure, employing a model that expands knowledge on the topic by identifying three dimensions that influence cooperation between HEIs. The authors also present implications for theory and practice and propose an agenda for future research.

This research proposes an accounting history perspective on “coopetition”—a competitive approachbased on cooperation—in the cultural tourism sector. The analysis is based on the International MuseumsCampaigns proclaimed by UNESCO in 1956 and 1957 and investigates the contribution of the EgyptianMuseum of Turin, in the context of the local tourism system, in constructing an event and its relatedcommunication campaign. The purpose is to highlight, through accounting documents, the importance ofcoopetition in stimulating visitors’ presence and reaching higher shared socio-economic results.

Over the past few years, academics and practitioners have started paying more attention to analyze and understand value creation and business models from a business ecosystem perspective. Such business ecosystems have been constructed based on the connected networks of people, firms, industries, and countries. Developing strategies to help sustain the firms’ competitive advantage in business ecosystems is a key challenge for businesses and policymakers worldwide. Recent disruptions to global supply chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed the high risk and challenges of managing sustainable global and intertwined supply chain networks. Using the data mined from financial records, the present study constructs the global supply chain network of the auto manufacturing sector. The data from 32,396 notable first-tier forward and backward supply chain connections were mined to build the global supply chain network in this sector. The global supply chain network structure was analyzed using centrality measures and clustering analysis. We utilized path analysis to explore the effect of various supply chain centrality measures on firms' financial performance, investment risk, and market value volatility. The findings provide new insight into our understanding of the relationship between the firm's location characteristics in the global supply chain ecosystem and various aspects of the asset's performance. Furthermore, discussions are presented about strategies that support sustainable collaborative value creation and sustainable competitiveness of businesses across the global manufacturing ecosystems. The research method used in this study has the potential to be applied to several industries. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42943-021-00026-8.

PurposeThe present study aims to tackle SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) managers' awareness of coopetition benefits underpinning the process of knowledge sharing with a view to achieve innovative performance. The scrutiny of coopetition is placed within the context of SMEs strategic networks, which foster a fertile ground for competitive knowledge sharing and direct collaboration among members.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 102 top managers and business owners of European steel SMEs were questioned regarding various issues related to coopetition, knowledge, collaboration and innovative performance strategies. The collected data were analyzed via the technique of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe obtained values confirm that intense competition in the field stimulates SMEs to become aware of the benefits of coopetition. This awareness directly influences the innovative performance of the SMEs, as well as their interest in competitive knowledge sharing and their willingness to engage in direct collaboration. Direct collaboration catalyzes more intense competitive knowledge sharing at the inter-unit level whereas both direct collaboration and competitive knowledge sharing lead to better innovative performance in the case of the studied steel SMEs.Research limitations/implicationsA key theoretical contribution resides in revealing the influence of manifold factors in the overall equation of innovative performance, integrating competition, coopetition and knowledge sharing as antecedents.Originality/valueThe research advances a phenomenological view on SMEs networks in their strategy to leverage competitive knowledge and enhance system-driven innovation.

With the development of the economy, developing high-technology industries and upgrading traditional industries have become a global focus. The relationship between the development of high-technology and traditional industries has also affected urban expansion. In this paper, a fractional derivative gray Lotka−Volterra model with time delay (FDGLV) is established by introducing fractional derivative and delay factor into the GLV model. The model is solved by using the fractional Adams−Bashforth−Moulton predictor−corrector algorithm. The gray correlation analysis is used to determine the time delay value of the model, and the parameters are optimized by using the whale algorithm. Then, the data of high-technology industry, traditional industry, and urban expansion in Chengdu, Changsha, and Chongqing are collected to verify the effectiveness of the model. Finally, the model is used to analyze the coopetition between industrial upgrading and urban expansion in Wuhan, and predict the development status in the next 5 years.

Firms in an international B2B relationship often simultaneously pursue two types of benefits: Common benefit (cooperation) and private benefit competition). Past literature only examined performance implications of such behavioral tensions. Drawing on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this study attempts to build a theoretical model to better understand firms’ behavioral intentions from a cultural perspective in international B2B relationships. Propositions were developed on five dimensions of the cultural framework: individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, long-term orientation/short-term orientation, and power distance. This model should help firms to select partners with the most compatible objectives and to establish appropriate safeguarding mechanisms based on their behavioral intentions.

Firms competing over technologies are often forced to collaborate while pursuing their risky research and development (RD this is called “technological coopetition.” Such coopetition creates complex interfirm technological relationships, which vary according to the technology field wherein the competition and cooperation are occurring. This study proposes a framework by which to map and identify technological coopetition at both the interfirm and industry levels in order to clarify the complex relational state of technological coopetition. The framework distinguishes between coopetition types by considering the relatedness between the technology areas in which competition and cooperation occur, while showing how interfirm relationships change over time. At the industry level, the framework shows the technology fields in which competition, cooperation, and coopetition occur frequently. We illustrate the framework by applying it to the semiconductor industry. This study is expected to contribute to the coopetition literature as well as R&D management practice.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to increase understanding about vertical coopetition from the perspective of interrelated conflict episodes on multiple levels. Design/methodology/approach The empirical part is based on a qualitative single case study of a coopetitive buyer-supplier relationship in the manufacturing sector. Findings Conflicts in vertical coopetition evolve from being merely functional and task-related to becoming dysfunctional and relationship-related, as the level of competition increases. The nature of conflict episodes influences the development of vertical coopetition, and therefore, the interrelatedness of conflict episodes is important to acknowledge. Practical implications Although a conflict is considered functional within a company, it may still be dysfunctional as far as the coopetitive relationship with the buyer or seller is concerned. Competition may trigger conflicts related to protecting own technology and knowledge, which may lead to termination of the cooperation, therefore coopetition should be managed in a way that balance sharing and protecting important knowledge to get advantages of coopetition. Originality/value The findings enhance prior research on vertical coopetition by offering new perspectives on causes of conflicts, their management, outcomes and types. The value of taking a multilevel approach lies in the ability to show how conflicts occur and influence other conflicts through the interrelatedness of conflict elements on different levels.

In this paper, we contribute to the literature on uncertainty and the drivers of social exchange. We explore the 2008 financial crisis and hand-collect unique data on more than 2,700 vessel chartering deals closed in the container shipping industry from 2000 to 2011. Our contribution is twofold. We challenge the literature by finding that low and high status players use different collaborative strategies under uncertainty: the high status players are more prone to coopetition and the low status ones reach out to external buyers. We also extend the literature on social exchange and uncertainty and introduce other constructs: strategic versatility and country-level long-term orientation of the suppliers that we study in our model. Our findings are relevant for policy and managerial decision-makers in the industry.