10th July,2023
Coopetition is a business strategy that uses insights gained from game theory to understand when it is better for competitors to work together.” Recently, the concept has become increasingly embraced across industries, driven by the need to expand business models to meet changing customer expectations. This shift is requiring organizations to develop new market opportunities and form valuable business partnerships.
If two companies join together through coopetition, they can gain more significant market share and even beat the other main competitors in the market. For example, Google Chrome and Mozilla are working together to beat their principle rivals Microsoft and Apple.
Even the hypercompetitive Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk once met to discuss combining their Blue Origin and SpaceX ventures.
Cooperating with a competitor to achieve a common goal or get ahead has been gaining traction for many decades.
Yet many companies are uncomfortable with the concept and bypass the promising opportunities it presents.
The moon landing just over 50 years ago is remembered as the culmination of a fierce competition between the United States and the USSR.
But in fact, space exploration almost started with cooperation. President Kennedy proposed a joint mission to the moon when he met with Khrushchev in 1961 and again when he addressed the United Nations in 1963. It never came to pass, but in 1975 the Cold War rivals began working together on Apollo-Soyuz, and by 1998 the jointly managed International Space Station had ushered in an era of collaboration.
Today a number of countries are trying to achieve a presence on the moon, and again there are calls for them to team up.
In this highly competitive world full of tech & AI related disruptions, where market cycles are becoming increasingly shorter, it makes sense to collaborate rather than compete, to use synergies for better efficiencies , to use the most innovative design for better solutions.
Increasing the size of the pie rather than fighting for the same pie or market share is the more optimal solution.
Co-opetition can be equally applicable and profitable in our personal relations & equations. Sharing and giving makes us all richer in learning, in experience and in wealth creation, thereby creating a better world.
Let’s adopt co-opetition in our personal & business life and stay blessed forever.