wikipedia | Coopetition or Co-opetition (sometimes spelled "coopertition" or "co-opertition") is a neologism coined to describe cooperative competition. Coopetition is a portmanteau of cooperation and competition.
Basic principles of co-opetitive structures have been described in game theory, a scientific field that received more attention with the book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior in 1944 and the works of John Forbes Nash on non-cooperative games.
It is also applied in the fields of political science and economics and
even universally [works of V. Frank Asaro, J.D.: Universal
Co-opetition,2011, and The Tortoise Shell Code, novel, 2012].
Coopetition occurs when companies interact with partial congruence of
interests. They cooperate with each other to reach a higher value
creation if compared to the value created without interaction, and
struggle to achieve competitive advantage.
Often coopetition takes place when companies that are in the same
market work together in the exploration of knowledge and research of new
products, at the same time that they compete for market-share of their
products and in the exploitation of the knowledge created. In this case,
the interactions occur simultaneously and in different levels in the
value chain. This is the case of the arrangement between PSA Peugeot Citroën and Toyota to share components for a new city car - simultaneously sold as the Peugeot 107, the Toyota Aygo, and the Citroën C1,
where companies save money on shared costs while remaining fiercely
competitive in other areas. Several advantages can be foreseen, as cost
reductions, resources complementarity and technological transfer. Some
difficulties also exist, as distribution of control, equity in risk,
complementary needs and trust. Not only two companies can interact
within a coopetitive environment, but several partnerships among
competitors are possible.
