Doctoral thesis: Balancing act to cooperate with competitors

In order to meet the increasing demands for resources, knowledge and cost efficiency, small and medium-sized enterprises cooperate with their competitors to a higher extent. When the competitors have a similar business, there is real potential for cooperation, but at the same time the similarities constitute a threat. This controversy is, among other things, in focus in Henrik Virtanen’s doctoral thesis "Integrerat och sekventiellt samarbete mellan konkurrenter. En studie av små och medelstora företag i en internationell kontext".

“Cooperating with competitors is a balancing act since the cooperation is based on a conflicting logic. The partners need to manage both cooperation and competition at the same time with one and the same player”, says Henrik Virtanen.

Cooperation increases the competitiveness of the partners, not only compared to other competitors but also compared to each other. The basis for competition is maximising one’s own interests, whereas when cooperating, the partners strive to achieve common goals. The partners need to find a balance in order to avoid turning the partnership into a destructive conflict.

“One possibility is to try to separate cooperation from competition. The partners can, for example, choose whether to cooperate or compete on specific markets or with specific products. Or, choose to cooperate on international markets and compete only on the domestic market.”

“The partners can strive to phase out overlapping operations so that the direct competition decreases. They can also, for example, focus on different markets or customer segments, or develop new products that do not compete with each other. The partners thus find that the cooperation adds such value that it is worthwhile creating new routines in order to avoid conflict.”

Previous research and literature on the subject identify different types of cooperation between competitors. The results in Virtanen’s thesis suggest that the phenomenon is more complex than the literature proposes.

“Each relationship that is permeated with both cooperation and competition is unique as to the benefits, risks and problems the partners face.”

Lic.Sc. Henrik Virtanen defends his doctoral thesis in Marketing: "Integrerat och sekventiellt samarbete mellan konkurrenter. En studie av små och medelstora företag i en internationell kontext" on Thursday 7 May 2015.

Time: 7 May 2015, at 13
Place: Room 307, Hanken School of Economics, Vaasa
Opponent: Professor Helén Anderson, Linnaeus University, Kalmar
Custos: Professor Peter Björk, Hanken School of Economics

For more information, please contact:
Henrik Virtanen
henrik.virtanen@hanken.fi
+358 50 5120576

A copy of the thesis (in Swedish) can be downloaded at: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/154195