Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 6th Edition

‘Co-opetition’ – co-operating with competitors

Most examples of collaboration across supply chain boundaries tend to be ‘vertical’, i.e. working with upstream suppliers or downstream customers. However there is a growing interest in exploiting the opportunities for ‘horizontal’ collaboration, i.e. working with others in the same sector who may also be competitors. This is the idea of co-opetition, as it has been termed.3 Underpinning the concept of co-opetition is the view that companies can benefit by working together in those parts of their business where they do not believe they have a competitive advantage. Thus two competitors might share a warehouse and/or outbound transport, perhaps facilitated by a third-party logistics provider. The ...