How Firms Navigate Cooperation and Competition in Nascent Ecosystems

Abstract

Competition and cooperation are fundamental to strategy, and often closely intertwined. But how firms successfully navigate both competition and cooperation over time, particularly in dynamic industries, is not clear. Via an in-depth multiple-case study of five firms in the US residential solar industry, we induct a theoretical framework to explain how firms successfully navigate nascent ecosystems over time. We identify three distinct strategies, each of which distinctively balances cooperation and competition, and each of which carries its own unique advantages and disadvantages. In doing so, we contribute insights into research on bottlenecks, kingpins, and the origins of strategy. Overall, we offer insight into the interplay between cooperation and competition, and crystallize the pivotal role of bottlenecks.

Keywords: Ecosystems, Co-opetition, Case study, solar