0019-8501/00/$–see front matter PII S0019-8501(99)00067-X Industrial Marketing Management 29, 411–426 (2000) © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010 ”Coopetition” in Business Networks—to Cooperate and Compete Simultaneously Maria Bengtsson Sören Kock Existing theory and research on relationships among com- petitors focuses either on competitive or on cooperative rela- tionships between them, and the one relationship is argued to harm or threaten the other. Little research has considered that two firms can be involved in and benefit from both cooperation and competition simultaneously, and hence that both types of relationships need to be emphasized at the same time. In this article, it is argued that the most complex, but also the most advantageous relationship between competitors, is “coopeti- tion” where two competitors both compete and cooperate with each other. Complexity is due to the fundamentally different and contradictory logics of interaction that competition and cooperation are built on. It is of crucial importance to separate the two different parts of the relationship to manage the com- plexity and thereby make it possible to benefit from such a re- lationship. This article uses an explorative case study of two Swedish and one Finnish industries where coopetition is to be found, to develop propositions about how the competitive and cooperative part of the relationship can be divided and man- aged. It is shown that the two parts can be separated depend- ing on the activities degree of proximity to the customer and on the competitors’ access to specific resources. It is also shown that individuals within the firm only can act in accordance with one of the two logics of interaction at a time and hence that ei- ther the two parts have to be divided between individuals within the company, or that one part needs to be controlled and regulated by an intermediate actor such as a collective association. © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Address correspondence to Sören Kock, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Management, P.O. Box 287, FIN- 65101 Vasa, Finland.