The promise of coopetition as a new theretical perspective in strategic management

This chapter seeks to bring clarity to the notion of coopetition and its relationship to firms’ behaviour by addressing the following questions: (a) what does coopetition mean and what are its distinctive elements? (b) how does coopetition shape firms’ behaviour? and (c) does firms’ resource similarity have an effect on coopetitive behaviours? This chapter makes three contributions to the literature. First, we review the literature, raising important contradictions and ambiguities in the extant literature and suggesting remedies that can direct future studies. Second, we advance the understanding of firms’ behaviour in the presence of coopetition. We believe that a systematic comparison of the quality and traits of firms’ behaviour related to coopetitive relationships provides new insights into empirical phenomena not explained yet. Third, we deepen the discussion by advancing a set of propositions (largely based on an inter- firm relationship approach) regarding the nature of the firm’s coopera- tive or competitive behaviours towards coopetitors and the relationships between resource similarity and coopetitors’ behaviour. The chapter is organized as follows. First, we carry out an overview of past research to show how coopetition has been studied in the literature. We then examine ambiguities in the extant literature and how they might be resolved. Next, focusing on the concept of simultaneity, both in terms of market scope and time, we will provide a narrow definition of coopeti- tion, and develop propositions on the relationship between coopetition and competitive and/or cooperative behaviours and resources similarity.