The dark-side of coopetition: Influences on the paradoxical forces of cooperativeness and competitiveness across product-market strategies

Although it has been widely established that coopetition (simultaneous cooperation and competition) has a positive association with firms’ performance, researchers have largely overlooked the environmental and firm-level forces potentially affecting that relationship. Under resource-based theory and the relational view, this current study evaluates whether competitive intensity and competitive aggressiveness negatively moderate the coopetition-financial performance relationship. Through a mixed methods approach featuring New Zealand wine producers, a positive relationship existed between coopetition and financial performance supporting earlier research. However, competitive aggressiveness provided a negative moderation effect and competitive intensity had a positive moderation effect. Unique insights emerge regarding underlying issues (potential dark-sides) behind the coopetition-financial performance relationship. Competitive intensity provides an opportunity for owner-managers to select trustworthy rivals targeting complementary product-markets. However, if decision-makers cannot effectively manage competitive aggressiveness across product-market strategies, they are likely to experience certain harmful outcomes, like tensions and diluted competitive advantages.