Analytical and systematic overview on the paradigms of co-opetition strategy as a paradox in the strategic management literature

With wider environmental constraints, more complex competition, market fragmentation and changing customers preferences, business firms are looking for new approaches to overcome these challenges. One of the strategies dealing with these challenges is called Co-opetition, which is a paradox in area of strategic management literature. The purpose of this paper is a systematic review of literature on coopetition theories and approaches. We first introduce the most significant theories found in the area of strategic management. Then, by systematically reviewing the literature we look for typologies in order to formulate the research general framework. The findings of the research show that ten basic theories of coopetition form the general theoretical framework of the study. But, among them, the most pervasive theories are game theory, resource based theory and network theory. Furthermore, the results indicate that there are different views among theorists on how to interpret coopetition strategy in terms of its advantages, applications, typologies, paradoxical nature as well as how it affects the performance of business enterprises. Also, two issues of mutual trust and tension management can be used to better understand this strategy.