Technological coopetition: Why and how technology with a competitor?
Sharing technology on a project involving a competitor is counterintuitive. Indeed, the competitor will be able to internalize the technology and use it against the company who initially shared it. While a project design which drastically reduces the risk of internalization of technology exists, some companies prefer to use riskier project designs that promote internalization. Our study explores this intriguing behavior using an in-depth and longitudinal case study from a company that has made a choice to move from only project design deemed “safer”, to sometimes using “riskier”. Our results show that this choice is strategic and many variables are encouraging this riskier structure. The change of project design reveals a change in the representation of the market relationship between competitors. JEL Codes : L1, O32, O33
Keywords
- coopetition
- technology sharing
- innovation strategy
- project design
- internalization