Does Coopetition Strategy Improve Market Performance? An Empirical Study in Mobile Phone Industry

A central question about coopetition is its impact on performance. Past researches on this question obtained mixed results. No past researches have attempted to evaluate the impact of coopetitive strategies on performance compared with other strategies vis-à-vis competitors: aggressive, cooperative or coexistence strategies. In addition, there have been few studies that attempt to establish a relationship between coopetitive strategy and market performance. In order to fill these gaps, this research studies the impact of coopetitive strategy on market performance, compared to the impact of aggressive, cooperative and coexistence strategies. An empirical study is conducted in the mobile telephony industry. The method is a structured content analysis that identifies the strategic movements of mobile operators from different countries and geographical regions. The results show, first, that only three strategies may be identified in the industry: aggressive, cooperative and coopetitive. The results show, second, that the market performance depends on the strategy adopted toward competitors. A coopetition strategy seems to perform better than either an aggressive or a cooperative strategy. An aggressive strategy is more effective than a cooperative strategy.(original abstract)