ABSTRACT
The most difficult strategic alliance type to manage involves collaboration with an existing or potential competitor, referred to as co-opetition. The opportunities and challenges presented by this approach offer us a good framework to examine the fundamentals of complex business-to-business collaborations. The co-opetition model is based on the concept of mutual benefit, whereby organisations move from adopting a central position to a more co-operative role. The alliance is at the centre, rather than one or other of the partners, and the customer relationship often shifts from an individual company to the alliance as a whole. This chapter explains some situation and case studies on co-opetition environments. Monitoring and reporting on the health of the working relationship between alliance partners through the use of a formal mechanism, process or standard procedure of some kind significantly increases the chances of success. The key goals companies identified for alliances were revenue, partner alignment, complete or extend product, create demand and achieve market share.
