Unpacking the relationship between coopetition and firm performance

<p dir="ltr">The relationship between coopetition and business performance has been a topic of interest in the strategic marketing literature for several decades, with competing firms cooperating being described as a double-edged sword. It has been argued that the outcomes of coopetition are dependent on boundary conditions and that firms should not ignore these factors.</p><p dir="ltr">This PhD thesis investigates the coopetition-performance relationship, unpacking the contingency factors that influence performance outcomes. The extended resource-based relational view of the firm grounds the study, and a survey of 206 manufacturers in the UK tests the study hypotheses using a hierarchical regression model.</p><p dir="ltr">The empirical results reveal that the coopetition-performance relationship has a positive association, but it is influenced by various factors, including interfirm coordination and relational embeddedness, strategic marketing resources, competitive intensity, and technological turbulence.</p><p dir="ltr">The study contributes to the coopetition field by theoretically aligning and adapting a measurement of coopetition that captures simultaneity of competition and cooperation, examining the association between coopetition and firm performance, and identifying moderators that influence the coopetition-performance relationship. The empirical results show the following key findings:</p><ul><li>At the relationship level, a well-established interfirm coordination and relational embeddedness enhances the coopetition-performance relationship.</li><li>At the internal firm level, strategic marketing resources, counterintuitively, depicted a negative effect on the coopetition-performance relationship.</li><li>Externally, competitive intensity in the business environment shows a negative effect on the relationship between coopetition and performance with technological turbulence having a positive effect on the coopetition-performance relationship.</li></ul><p dir="ltr">The findings provide managerial insights on how to facilitate successful performance outcomes through appropriate techniques and management styles when implementing coopetition.</p>