Business Friend or foe? Cooperating with competitors can have benefits for businesses, but working with rivals can also have a har ful e ect on perfor ance y Katie McQuater C ollaboration has become an increasingly prevalent watchword in business, with companies more attuned to the value of working with others. But what happens when organisations work with, rather than against, their competitors? hether for collective good or individual benefit, cooperation strategies can strengthen business to a point. Cooperating with others, either in times of crisis or calm, can allow organisations to tap into collective strength and harness joint resources. James Crick, assistant professor in marketing at Loughborough University, has been studying the issue of cooperation with competitors or coopetition for a few years. He says there is a clear opportunity in a joined-up approach, particularly for smaller, under-resourced organisations, helping them to access equipment, information or knowledge that they wouldnt otherwise have. lthough it may not lead to firms having a competitive advantage, it may be the difference between surviving and failing within the market, rick says. f firms are working hard to cope with all the shocks that everyone else is facing in the commercial world, it might mean the difference between being in business or having liquidity problems. During times of crisis, the importance of collaboration becomes ever more apparent, and even necessary. As Covid-19 took hold, Boeing and Airbus partnered to study how the virus behaves in aeroplanes; UK competition laws were temporarily relaxed to allow supermarkets to share data with each other to help keep stock levels up; and pharmaceutical companies began working together to develop a vaccine. Cricks most recent paper, published in Industrial Marketing Management, focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of coopetition during the pandemic. One of the papers recommendations for practitioners is that, during a worldwide emergency, organisations should consider the potential mutual benefits of coopetition strategies to meet unprecedented demand, improve performance and the efficiency of supply chains, or simply to survive within a volatile market. Businesses must be aware of the extent to which they are legally permitted to engage in such strategies, however, as government rules do not permit forming monopolies. While coopetition may be allowed to help firms cope in times of crisis, they can be penalised for collusive competitive practices. There is also a fine balance to be struck between a mutually beneficial relationship and an arrangement that could end up harming a business. Collaborating with competitors has its disadvantages and can be a hindrance if businesses dont proceed with caution. Tension between organisations if strategies are not managed correctly, power imbalances, trust issues, and opportunistic behaviours can all negatively affect the success of cooperative arrangements, says Crick. Firms losing intellectual property can also be a drawback, or simply sharing an excessive amount of information, losing their USP, and diluting their competitive advantages, he adds. Evaluating the success of coopetition strategies will vary depending on the businesses objectives, 38 Impact ISSUE 31 20_pp38-39_Business.indd 38 18/09/2020 11:49