Goodwill or Opportunism? The Use of Coopetition in SME Internationalisation : Perspective of Finnish SMEs
Stude de Mello Vidal, Raphael (2021)
Stude de Mello Vidal, Raphael
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021062540136
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021062540136
Tiivistelmä
In an increasingly complex and competitive global business environment, coopetition emerges as a potentially valuable strategy for SMEs engaging in internationalisation. Coopetition in SMEs is driven by lack of resources, liability of smallness and newness as well as a need for complementary resources. These are limitations for SME internationalisation. This thesis thus sets out to explore how and why SMEs use coopetition in the internationalisation process, with a specific focus on Finnish SMEs. The thesis explores the drivers of coopetition in SME internationalisation, the initiation process for coopetitive relationships in Finnish SMEs as well as the results of coopetition for internationalisation.
A resource–based view of coopetition is used in this thesis to explain how and why SMEs engage in coopetition for their internationalisation efforts, with a theoretical review examining the drivers of coopetition in SMEs.
The study is conducted via a qualitative research method, employing a case study of two Finnish SMEs that are actively cooperating with their competitors. The data gathering process used semi-structured interviews that were further analysed through the thematic analysis process. The results find that, in the case of the two Finnish SMEs studied for this thesis, SMEs see positive effects of using coopetition in the internationalisation process. Both SMEs increased their international presence thanks to cooperative interactions with their competitors that allowed them to reduce costs of internationalising as compared to acting alone, reaching a larger customer segment and improving business opportunities. The case study exhibits both opportunistic behaviours to improve competitive positions in relation to coopetitive partners and acts based on goodwill to help competitors. In addition, managerial implications for using coopetition in the internationalisation process are discussed.
A resource–based view of coopetition is used in this thesis to explain how and why SMEs engage in coopetition for their internationalisation efforts, with a theoretical review examining the drivers of coopetition in SMEs.
The study is conducted via a qualitative research method, employing a case study of two Finnish SMEs that are actively cooperating with their competitors. The data gathering process used semi-structured interviews that were further analysed through the thematic analysis process. The results find that, in the case of the two Finnish SMEs studied for this thesis, SMEs see positive effects of using coopetition in the internationalisation process. Both SMEs increased their international presence thanks to cooperative interactions with their competitors that allowed them to reduce costs of internationalising as compared to acting alone, reaching a larger customer segment and improving business opportunities. The case study exhibits both opportunistic behaviours to improve competitive positions in relation to coopetitive partners and acts based on goodwill to help competitors. In addition, managerial implications for using coopetition in the internationalisation process are discussed.
Kokoelmat
- 512 Liiketaloustiede [433]