On the Nature and Drivers of Coopetition

We advance an image of coopetition as a synthesis of the two alternative paradigms developed in the literature about the nature of the interdependences among firms; i.e., the competitive paradigm versus the cooperative paradigm. The competitive paradigm postulates divergent interest-based interdependences among firms, whereas the cooperative paradigm implicitly assumes that firms interact on the basis of a convergent - i.e., fully collaborative - interest structure. We suggest that coopetition arises when both the competitive and the cooperative features of inter-firm interdependence co-exist simultaneously, defining a game structure where firms interact on the basis of partially convergent interests. Additionally, we discuss the factors that contribute to give rise to this hybrid nature of inter-firm interdependences, proposing a set of environment-related and firm-related coopetition drivers. Our study provides relevant implication for research that we discuss in the final section of the paper