Kilpailijayhteistyö innovointistrategiana

Abstract

Coopetition as a strategy has become increasingly popular in recent decades due to fast-paced technological development. Especially in high tech, a wide scope of expertise is needed for technological development. Coopetition is beneficial for innovation processes due to high R&D-costs, shrinking product life cycles and the convergence of multiple technologies. In addition to significant benefits, firms applying coopetition as a strategy for innovation face challenges and risks.

This thesis was conducted as a literature review which clarifies the effects of coopetition for incremental and radical innovation and compiles the benefits, challenges and risks of coopetition in innovation processes. Based on the literature review incremental innovation is more common and more suitable for coopetition strategy than radical innovation. Coopetition benefits the whole innovation process, from R&D to commercialization. When applying coopetition strategy to innovation processes, firms have to take the challenges of the simultaneous pursuit of collaboration and competition into consideration. If the challenges of coopetition are neglected, coopetition partners can face risks, which have detrimental effects on the coopetitive relationship and innovation results.