Title: Coopetition and business ecosystems in the information technology sector: the example of Intelligent Mobile Terminals

Authors: Gael Gueguen

Addresses: Toulouse Business School, ERFI, France

Abstract: This article studies the coopetitive behaviours of firms within the information technology industry. In this context, establishing a standard is a key element for the development of a firm. To guarantee a company|s diffusion and staying power, it must form alliances and share a common strategic destiny (a business ecosystem), particularly with competitors (coopetition). In operating systems, it is possible to identify five major ecosystems: Palm, Microsoft, Symbian, Research in Motion (RIM) and Linux. The main problem is rallying competitors to one|s cause, as well as cooperating with key players from rival business ecosystems. This leads us to analyse the various coopetitive positions |within| and |between| business ecosystems. We try to identify the reasons that push business ecosystems to adopt a coopetition-based form of logic. An analysis of social networks is practised on a press review over an eight-year period.

Keywords: coopetition; business ecosystems; smartphones; PDA phones; intelligent mobile terminals; IMTs; information technology; cooperation; competition; social networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2009.024109

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2009 Vol.8 No.1, pp.135 - 153

Published online: 25 Mar 2009 *

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