The Promise of Coopetition as a Stream of Research in Strategic Management

Our paper aims is to contribute to the literature on coopetition by providing a conceptual framework and a number of pivotal issues that can be used to explain and predict a set of distinctive empirical phe- nomena, not explained or predicted by conceptual frameworks already in existence in other streams of research in business studies. After a brief review of the literature we first define the concept of coopetition by considering the two basic concepts it is founded on: competition and cooperation. Secondly, we consider the variables affecting the empirical definition of coopetition. Finally we suggest some theoreti- cal propositions, explaining and predicting a set of distinctive empiri- cal phenomena, that can become an initial conceptual framework for future research on coopetition.