Coopetition: Its successful management in the nexus of dependency and trust

Management practice developed the concept of coopetition, the collaboration with the competitor, which has been largely ignored in the literature. Research has so far concentrated on explorative case studies. This study will make an attempt towards the better understanding of coopetition and its effect on performance. We further analyze different antecedents of coopetition and consider different configurations of coopetition. First, we research the performance and management relationships of coopetition. Second, to furnish the different configurations of coopetition, we research different mixtures of trust and dependency as relational factors. Our results indicate that (a) coopetition requires different facets of an alliance-management system depending on the mix of trust and dependency, and (b) - most surprisingly - a high trust/high dependency environment fosters the relationship of coopetition and performance outcomes the most. Our results enriches theory and management practice on coopetition. We contribute to the understanding of coopetition as a strategy associated with different mixes of trust and dependency. The large scale study shows that there is neither a single general performance effect by coopetition nor a single management system leading to coopetition. Management antecedents and performance effects strongly rely on the specific setting of trust and dependency elements. We encourage further research on the condition of success and management system of coopetition.