Unbundling the impact of current and future competition on cooperation in coopetition projects for innovation

Abstract

Firms rely on coopetition strategies (i.e., alliances with competitors), which combine cooperative and competitive behaviors to yield higher innovation outcomes. To allow for these combinations, seminal research on coopetition has considered competition and cooperation independent dimensions. However, recent contributions have suggested that they are interdependent constructs that can be either positively (balance view) or negatively (tension view) related. We claim that these two views are complementary, and that the degree of competition has an inverted U-shaped relationship (i.e., both positive and negative) with the degree of cooperation. Distinguishing between “current competition” and “proximity of future competition” and based on a sample of 180 coopetitive projects involving innovation and R&D in the biopharma industry, we show how current competition and the proximity of future competition impact the degree of cooperation in coopetitive projects. Specifically, we demonstrate the role of the proximity of future competition in directly reducing the degree of cooperation and moderating the impact of current competition on cooperation.