A review of coopetition and future research agenda

Abstract

Purpose This research aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature on coopetition to assess its impact on firm performance in various contexts. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis of 144 papers from 1999 to 2021 and analysis of literature under the premise of theory, context, characteristics and methodology using the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methodology (TCCM) approach was conducted using Institute for Scientific Information Web of Sciences data on coopetition literature. Findings The study enlists the influential journals, evolutions and citations of the articles and particularly identifies six research streams under the domain of coopetition and additionally charts out the future research agenda. Practical implications The results highlighted in this study may be helpful for managers and practitioners to understand the dynamics of a strategic alliance with their competitor organizations. Moreover, managers may utilize the coopetition strategy to enhance customer value and leverage this relationship for more excellent firm performance. Furthermore, the results obtained through cluster analysis can be considered as a start point to develop frameworks for a business relationship with competitors. This study utilizes content analysis and bibliometric analysis to assess the diverse view and understand the development of the field that may help the researchers increase the rigor and transparency of reviewing the literature and answer various questions that may arise to assess competitors’ interorganizational relationships. Originality/value No systematic literature review has analyzed the literature on coopetition using the TCCM approach and identified various research streams under the perspective of different contextual settings.