| Abstract |
This study intends to demonstrate whether firms' cooperative activities, particularly 'coopetition', affect business performances. Coopetition, which is cooperation with competitors, is a strategic concept that suggests competition and cooperation between firms can exist simultaneously. More specifically, in order to investigate cooperation as a part of innovation mechanism, this study analysed the mediating effects of product and process innovation performances in between cooperative activities and management performances. For this purpose, we applied a structural equation model (SEM) by integrating a regression model and a logistic regression model. The former analysed the effects of cooperation and innovation on management performances, whereas the latter studied influence of cooperation on innovation performances. For empirical analysis, we utilised data from Korea Innovation Survey (KIS), which incorporates information on Korean firm's innovation activities and their relevant performances. The results from this study can be applied to addressing and diagnosing issues in Korean industries by analysing relationships among cooperative activities, innovation outcomes and management performances in the structural context. The analysis showed that coopetition, compared to other types of cooperation, has enhanced the performance of process innovation. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrated that cooperation related positively to management performances. This study, however, also addresses the problem that Korean firms have limitations in linking these innovation performances to actual management performances of financial growth. The results highlight the significance of strategic openness and flexibility, even to competitors, as the business environment and technology market may change drastically. Coopetition strategy can work as a facilitator in providing windows of opportunity for sustainable growth through field-based innovation. |
