To Örebro University

When studying firms inbusiness networks, researchers have tended to focus on aspects of cooperation, while competition has been less examined. One exception is the concept of coopetition, which has been explored in order to take competitive aspects of business networks into account. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the network approach literature by addressing the concept of competition, as well as interactive outcomes of competition, i.e. cooperation andcoopetition. Specifically, the paper aims to understand why firms move from cooperation to competitionin the context of the IT (information technology) industry in an emerging economy such as Brazil. To accomplish this, we conduct a case study of two different relationships where cooperation turns to competition. The case is based on the development of an IT solution for public transportation in which local and foreign MNCs interact during and after the project. The preliminary findings suggest that the higher the level of complementarity or interdependence, the higher likelihood of developing a more cooperative strategy. In contrast, the lower the level of interdependency, the higher the degree of competition:meaning that partners will choose a competitive strategy instead.