To Örebro University

Purpose: Building on a business network perspective, the paper addresses the following question: Why do firms move between cooperation and competition in the context of high-tech industry? Hence, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the complex cooperation–competition interplay between actors in a business network.

Design/methodology/approach: A single case study within the information and communication technology industry is undertaken and illustrates the cooperation–competition interplay in projects of technology.

Findings: The authors discuss the implications of interdependence on relationship dynamics. The main argument is that business relationships survive despite periods of competition if interdependence is high. Thus, firms move between a state of cooperation and a state of competition within business relationships, rather than ending the relationships when starting to compete.

Practical implications: This study suggests that managers need to pay attention to how different degrees of interdependence lead firms to be embedded in cooperative or competitive forms of relationships.

Originality/value: The paper contributes to the ongoing debate about cooperation, competition and coopetition within international business and industrial marketing literature. An interesting aspect in the paper is the cooperation–competition interplay, which is associated with positioning. A centrally positioned actor will choose who to bring into the partnership, with positioning concomitantly changing from project to project. The willingness of being a central actor, i.e. a project leader, places traditional buyer–supplier partners in competition. Thus, cooperation and/or competition becomes contextual.

The paper explores the concept of coopetition by addressing a situation when business partners start to compete. Specifically, it intends to understand why firms move from cooperation to competition. To achieve this, case studies based on the development of an IT-solution for urban mobility in Brazil are undertaken. The cases show local and foreign MNEs interactions during and after the project. The findings suggest that the higher the level of interdependence, the higher likelihood of developing a cooperative strategy. In contrast, the lower the level of interdependency, the higher is the degree of competition; meaning that partners will choose a competitive strategy instead.

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.