IMPLICATIONS OF COOPETITION FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS AND INTERNATIONALIZATION OF FIRMS: PERSPECTIVE OF SME AND LARGE COMPANIES

Abstract

The concept of coopetition sheds new light on the way companies behave and the way in which value for customers and whole economies can be created. The emergence and growing popularity of simultaneous cooperation and competition between business actors encourages asking more in depth questions about the results of this kind of relationship for companies. This paradoxical phenomenon is becoming more and more popular even among enterprises from transition economies such as Poland. After twenty years of building a market economy, Polish firms are becoming able to implement more sophisticated kinds of business behaviour. The main aim of this paper is to attempt to recognize the implications of cooperation with market rivals for companies involved in this type of business behaviour. The author, by quoting literature written on the subject, presents the concept of coopetition and the results of coopetition for companies. This short overview is accompanied by empirical research, which took a form of direct interviews conducted in 57 companies from one region in Poland. The author highlights the methodology used to assess the involvement of a firm in coopetition. The results of the empirical study are discussed paying attention to the size of business agents – SME and large companies.

Keywords

• coopetition, competitiveness, internationalization

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