Tensions in multilateral coopetition: Findings from the disrupted music industry

Amber Geurts*, Thijs Broekhuizen, Wilfred Dolfsma, Katharina Cepa

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Coopetition may help firms to respond collectively to technological change, and compete against disruptive innovation. Yet, coopetition often creates tensions, as coopetitors need to engage in persistently contradictory activities. While existing research focuses on dyadic coopetition, we know much less about multilateral coopetition; specifically, how tensions in multilateral coopetition arise and how they are managed in response to disruptive innovation. We use an in-depth case study of nine Dutch firms, who respond to digital disruption by introducing a new digital music platform, to analyse how tensions evolve in a multilateral coopetition entity. Our findings reveal two coopetitive tensions: a novel multilateral generalist–specialist contribution tension, and the well-known value creation–capture tension. The generalist–specialist contribution is an actor-activity-based tension that originates from the variable contributions of different vertical and horizontal coopetitors over time. Coopetitors try to resolve or balance this tension constantly via commensuration and orchestration of individual coopetitors' contributions, but the tension remains dormant and therefore re-appears. The second tension appears to stabilize over time as the coopetitive entity manages to balance the value creation–capture tension through an iteration of cooperation-inducing, competition-inducing and attendance to redirecting external events. The tensions are interlinked: the generalist–specialist contribution tension triggers subgroup coalition formation, which spurs the value creation–capture tension. We contribute to the coopetition literature by explaining how tensions emerge and are managed in multilateral coopetition, pointing to a new tension inherent in multilateral coopetition. Furthermore, we show how disruptive innovation uniquely shapes multilateral coopetition by inducing cooperative behaviour.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)532-547
Number of pages16
JournalIndustrial Marketing Management
Volume105
Early online date28 Jul 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback. The authors thank the representatives from the nine firms participating in MusicNL for allowing us to closely follow their efforts over time.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Funding

The authors thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback. The authors thank the representatives from the nine firms participating in MusicNL for allowing us to closely follow their efforts over time.

Keywords

  • Coopetition
  • Coopetitive tension
  • Digital platform
  • Disruptive innovation
  • Multilateral coopetition
  • Music industry
  • Tension management

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