• Twitter
  • LinkedIn
(503) 212-0687 | hello@cascadeinsights.com
Cascade Insights
  • Market Research Services
    • B2B Customer Experience Research
      • Buyer Personas
      • Buyer’s Journey Research
      • Key Buying Criteria Research
      • Jobs-To-Be-Done Research
      • User Personas
      • Customer Satisfaction Research
    • B2B Product/Service Research
      • Market Opportunity Research
      • Concept Testing
      • Go-To-Market Research
    • B2B Marketing Enablement Research
      • Data-Driven Marketing Research
      • Message Testing
      • Brand Research
      • Thought Leadership Services
      • Partner Enablement
    • B2B Sales Enablement Research
      • Competitive Landscape Analysis
      • Win-Loss Research
      • Churn Analysis
      • Channel Research
  • Marketing Services
    • Marketing Strategy
    • Messaging
    • Content Marketing
    • Sales Enablement
  • Insights and Perspectives
    • B2B Market Research Blog
    • B2B Marketing Blog
    • B2B Resources
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Clients
    • Client Testimonials
    • Careers
    • Ethics Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

The “Competitive Intel” Episode 16 Transcript – Analyzing the Co-opetition

October 19, 2012/in Blog Posts /by cascade
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

As described in the book of the same name by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff, co-opetition is the concept of mutual benefit to one another by separate businesses. For example, a streaming service such as NetFlix might add value to Apple TV (since iTunes is download-only), and likewise, Apple TV might drive business to NetFlix.

Potential Shared Benefits by Complementary Businesses

As the Apple and NetFlix example above indicates, it is entirely possible for two companies to benefit each other, even with operations that are in the same general market segment. The dynamic may provide a more complete product or service offering, as is the case for Apple here, or it may help drive customers to your product or service, creating a broader total addressable market, as is the case for NetFlix.

Another common illustration of the complementor concept is that it has become common for makers of ERP, CRM, or other enterprise software to include hooks for social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. The enterprise software maker benefits from those connections, but has little if any real control over them.

Hazards from Connections Outside Your Control

The most obvious potential hazard of co-opetition is that the company that complements your business today could emerge as a direct competitor tomorrow. Likewise, any missteps by that company (or even the company’s outright failure) could have a negative impact on your business, and you could be powerless to change it.

A more subtle issue is that the company that complements your offerings could, in many cases, change the rules of engagement. Twitter recently added restrictions to the use of their APIs by others, allowing external apps to submit tweets, but not to aggregate or syndicate Twitter content without permission. This change gives Twitter more control over where readers see Twitter content (and ads), but it could threaten some companies’ business models.

Analysis of a Co-opetition Landscape

Because co-opetition carries the potential for both benefits and hazards, the book establishes a competitive intelligence framework to analyze potential outcomes, based on the mnemonic acronym PARTS:

  • Players: identifying and understanding your customers, competitors, suppliers, and complementors, as well as the interactions between them
  • Added value: understanding how to build your own value (and that of your complementors) and/or subtract from that of your competitors
  • Rules: establishing what guidelines define the engagement between your company and a complementor, as well as the potential for change in that engagement
  • Tactics: deciding how to manage co-opetition; for example, Apple depends on Samsung for iPhone displays, even as it sued that complementor for copyright infringement
  • Scope: determining how one game interacts with another, such as the effect of government-provided health insurance on the private insurance industry

By Sean Campbell
By Scott Swigart

Get in touch

"*" indicates required fields

Name
Cascade Insights will never share your information with third parties. View our privacy policy.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
cascade

cascade

cascade

Latest posts by cascade (see all)

  • Read Like An Analyst: Data Dilemmas, Startups & Standouts - October 20, 2015
  • 7 Trade Show Competitive Intelligence Tips: B2B Market Research podcast - May 11, 2015
  • We will be Hacked: Adjusting to the New Normal for Enterprise Security… - January 16, 2015
Tags: competitive intelligence
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
You might also like
Sales Needs A Say In StrategyThe “Competitive Intel” Episode 29 Transcript – Thinking about Apple: Don’t Generalize from a Specific
professional services firmAvoid an Identity Crisis: Make These Tough Calls For Your Firm
Sales Needs A Say In StrategyThe “Competitive Intel” Episode 8 Transcript – Influencer Identification and Analysis
Key Buying Criteria: The Path to ‘Yes’Key Buying Criteria: The Path to ‘Yes’
Know Thyself: B2B Usability TestingKnow Thyself: B2B Usability Testing
Sales Needs A Say In StrategyThe “Competitive Intel” Episode 19 Transcript – Understanding the Technology Adoption Lifecycle
Sales Needs A Say In StrategySales Needs A Say In Strategy
Sales Needs A Say In StrategyThe “Competitive Intel” Episode 18 Transcript – Human Intelligence – Part I

GET IN TOUCH

hello@cascadeinsights.com

(503) 898-0004

WHAT WE DO

Market Research Services
Marketing Services
Subscribeto RSS Feed

Blog Categories

  • B2B Buyer Persona Research
  • B2B Channel Market Research
  • B2B Churn Analysis
  • B2B Competitive Landscape Analysis
  • B2B Customer Experience Research
  • B2B Customer Journey Mapping
  • B2B Go-To-Market Research
  • B2B Market Opportunity Research
  • B2B Market Research Blog
  • B2B Market Segmentation Research
  • B2B Marketing Blog
    • Uncategorized
  • B2B Messaging
  • B2B New Product Launch Research
  • B2B Thought Leadership
  • B2B Usability Testing
  • Brand Research
  • Concept Testing
  • Content Marketing
  • Customer Satisfaction Research
  • Data-Driven Marketing Research
  • Jobs-To-Be-Done
  • Key Buying Criteria
  • Marketing Enablement
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Message Testing Research
  • Partner Enablement
  • Product/Service Research
  • Sales Enablement Marketing
  • Sales Enablement Research
  • User Personas
  • Videos
  • Win/Loss Analysis

Written by

cascade

RECENT POSTS

  1. The “Competitive Intel” Episode 1 Transcript – CES and Trade Show Intelligence
  2. The “Competitive Intel” Episode 10 Transcript – Don’t fetch sticks: fetch answers: Orienting CI Efforts around KIQ’s
  3. The “Competitive Intel” Episode 19 Transcript – Understanding the Technology Adoption Lifecycle
  4. The “Competitive Intel” Episode 27 Transcript – Value Chain Analysis

Connect With Us

503.212.0687

hello@cascadeinsights.com

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

B2B Market Research

  • Customer Experience Research
  • — Buyer Persona Research
  • — Buyer's Journey Research
  • — Key Buying Criteria Research
  • — Jobs-To-Be-Done Research
  • — User Personas
  • — Customer Satisfaction Research

  • B2B Product/Service Research
  • — Market Opportunity Research
  • — Concept Testing
  • — Go-To-Market Research

  • Marketing Enablement Research
  • — B2B Data-Driven Marketing Research
  • — Message Testing
  • — Brand Research
  • — Thought Leadership
  • — Partner Enablement

  • Sales Enablement Research
  • — Competitive Landscape Analysis
  • — Win Loss Analysis
  • — Churn Analysis
  • — Channel Research

B2B Marketing

  • — B2B Marketing Strategy
  • — B2B Messaging Services
  • — B2B Content Marketing
  • — B2B Sales Enablement

About Us

  • — Our Story
  • — Our Clients
  • — Client Testimonials
  • — Careers
  • — Ethics Policy
  • — Privacy Policy

Blogs

  • — B2B Market Research Blog
  • — B2B Marketing Blog
  • — Cascade Insights Blog
Cascade Insights is proud to be a member of the Inc. 5000.
Disruptive Innovation as a Competitive Intelligence Framework Part II: Three...Disruptive Innovation as a Competitive Intelligence Framework Part III: Three...
Scroll to top