Coopetition and Project Management

Well, it is the hybrid of competition and cooperation. And it is an example of an agile organization, which adapts to circumstances (aka is opportunistic). Still there might be a strategic component to it: win market share in the long term.

Think given the increasing speed of changes, a traditional competitor might morph into a potential partner. First in specific situations, and if disruption of a market place is growing, as a long term partnership, even a joint venture or M&A.

A problem is if you shaped a culture over long years to see others as the enemy, it is harder to accept for staff that it now becomes a partner. External enemies for both might be a trigger to seek cooperation, see the automotive industry and Tesla, US/Russia vs. global warming.

In terms of project economy, what are enemies? We deal with them as adversary stakeholders anyhow. We seek to borrow power by cooperation and increasing value. We do not think the world is a zero sum game, but believe that we can add value by cooperation. As a profession, we think competition is not a helpful behavior. So we would rather look at cooperation and probably use coopetition as a strategy to change our competitive organization.

Hi Kiron,

After reading your thoughts, I agree it's a matter of growing the market instead of increasing the market share.
It's competitive form of win-win cooperation.

Hi Luís,

I think @Thomas presented the topic very well, nevertheless in case of corporations or join ventures all in name of share resources so they could apply to big projects, be aware that the corporations should be aware that the leverage of one partner at the expenses of the other partner in name of growth could happen. ( Is it ethical , I have doubts )

Alexandre.

Spot on Thomas, very well explained !

Dear João
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion

Do you think it is possible that, at a car show, a manufacturer will deliver a part of its order book to a competitor just to increase the market?

Hi Luís,

Regarding that specific example, maybe yes maybe no... it would depend a lot on the context, potential gains and to what extent their products are similar...

Let's say we talking about oranges (or another product from a certain specific region), or something you want to create a market for... you could do that (or if legal in that country, maybe resell the other competitors' product(s)).

You might want to cooperate with competition to grow the market into something bigger (BTW, I'm not talking about creating a cartel/colluding),and not focusing on going after each others clients but on going after new ones. In a non-saturated market you usually spend less money going after new clients and getting someone else's clients.

Assuming that the companies are in a healthy situation, if you maintain the market share but the market doubles its size... It's good for everyone... Win-win :)

I'll try to discover an article I read on this and send it to you...

Dear Luis,

Just to clarify, you are talking about competition/cooperation. It think this is the new norm as senior managers want to see people actually cooperating with each other to get the job done as apposed to on the surface cooperating but in the background inadvertently hindering each others progress. It also show that each person has shared interest and objectives and want to progress the interest of the organisation. How an individual creates alliances in the workplace and uses them to progress their own career path while at the same time achieving the objectives of the organisation's management will be the new way that peoples will be appraised.

Daire

Dear Luis,

Just to clarify, you are talking about competition/cooperation. It think this is the new norm as senior managers want to see people actually cooperating with each other to get the job done as apposed to on the surface cooperating but in the background inadvertently hindering each others progress. It also show that each person has shared interest and objectives and want to progress the interest of the organisation. How an individual creates alliances in the workplace and uses them to progress their own career path while at the same time achieving the objectives of the organisation's management will be the new way that peoples will be appraised.

Daire

Dear Luis,

Yes, I see most of my colleague here see it in terms of market share and how companies interact on the marketplace to take their own slice of the pie without effecting anybody else. In my opinion this is a mechanism for stiffing competition. For example a vertical integrated company that starts offering to delivery its competitor products is a mechanism for the larger company to eventually integrate the smaller company. It may look like cooperation but it has all the hallmarks of an ripe approach for M&A. I would call it Diplomacy in Business. On the surface it looks like cultural exchange and shared interest but in reality you are only interested in extending your influence and market dominance.

Daire