International coopetition for innovation: Are the benefits worth the challenges?

Abstract

International coopetition has rarely been studied in relation to innovation. Further exploration of effects of international coopetition, i.e. the pursuit of simultaneous cooperation and competition, on a firm's innovation performance is especially important as such a relationship is challenging with a high propensity to fail. This observation formed the point of departure for this study, which aims to increase the understanding of the effects of international coopetition on firm innovativeness and how these effects are conditioned on the magnitude of the organizational adjustments a firm introduces. We use an unbalanced panel of 9839 firms that participated in four waves of the Swedish Community Innovation Survey between 2008 and 2014 as our empirical base. We illustrate that firms that cooperate with competitors internationally are more likely to exhibit higher propensity to introduce radical innovations, yet this effect is conditioned upon the magnitude of organizational adjustments. Overall, our study contributes to the understanding of the implications of international coopetition and what a firm needs to benefit from it.

Impact of intra-group coopetitive incentives on the performance outcomes of knowledge sharing: evidence from a randomized experiment

“…However, the contribution value in free riding can be close to zero in the absence of communication. Members can practice knowledge collaboration under the premise of competition, and team performance depends on the degree of internal adjustment within organizations (Vanyushyn et al, 2018). Thus, different knowledge-sharing motivations produce different performances.…”

Internationalizing the Coopetition Construct: Quadratic Effects on Financial Performance Under Different Degrees of Export Intensity and an Export Geographical Scope

“…By internationalizing, organizations can experience a range of performance-enhancing opportunities that a domestically oriented business model would not allow them to achieve (Knight and Cavusgil 2004; Kuivalainen, Sundqvist, and Servais 2007; McDougall and Oviatt 2000; Nemkova et al 2015; Sousa, Ruzo, and Losado 2010). Likewise, with higher degrees of exporting, companies can cooperate with their competitors and decrease the underlying potential for domestic-level interfirm rivalry, because they are competing for a larger volume of customers internationally (building on Felzensztein and Deans 2013; Kock, Nisuls, and Soderqvist 2010; Vanyushyn et al 2018).…”

“…That is, coopetition-oriented beliefs involve decision-makers assuming that it is beneficial to collaborate with rivals in various capacities. Vanyushyn et al (2018)…”

Family Firms Can Perform Better by Overcoming Strategic Unwillingness: Implications of “Familiness” for Coopetition Strategy

“…Moreover, the industries where coopetition is being actively implemented at present do not entail traditional industries, such as manufacturing, construction, mining, and energy, but include new high-tech industries, such as IT, bio, and future vehicles (Bouncken, Gast, Kraus, & Bogers, 2015), which have great potential for growth. Due to the high uncertainty associated with standard technologies and markets in new industries, companies try to mitigate external risks by working together with competitors (Vanyushyn, Bengtsson, Näsholm, & Boter, 2018).…”