ABSTRACT
Many financial organizations are presently involved in a complex process of digital transformation that deeply challenges their traditional structure, management, and functioning. Our study addresses a knowledge gap in organizational literature, focusing on the digital transformation of bank federations structured as heterarchical networks of regional banks, or meta-organizations. The complexity and specificity of these federations is determined by a combination of collaborative and competitive relationships that coexist between their members, which results in a coopetitive situation that requires proper coordination mechanisms to progressively implement digital transformation decisions and processes. Using a longitudinal case study that spans 20 years, we investigate the situation of a large French bank federation, identifying and presenting the phases of the digital transformation process, the tensions raised by inter- and intra-network coopetitive situations, and the coordination mechanisms applied to maintain a dynamic balance between collaboration and competition. Our findings provide useful insights for the management team of similar meta-organizations implementing a digitalization strategy, helping them to properly assess the challenges raised by internal coopetition and identify the best action levers to simultaneously combine and coordinate collaborative and competitive relationships.
