ABSTRACT
Immanuel Kant is commonly considered the epitome of “the most Western of all eras in the history of Western culture”. In Western cultures, the laws of formal logic encompass three principles: everything must be identical with itself, no statements can be both true and false at the same time, and all statements must be either true or false, with no middle position. Managers approaching coopetition following Kantian’s philosophy neglect those opposites – such as out-performing and out-helping – can occur for the same activity or within the same unit. Managers exploring coopetition strategy and by adopting Hegelian’s view will draw on that out-performing and out-helping others will follow the both/or logic, namely the logic in which both competition and cooperation exist, albeit temporarily. The either/or logic between competition and cooperation has typically characterized management studies on interfirm relationships.
