Big problems require large collective actions: Managing multilateral coopetition in strategic innovation networks

Grand challenges such as climate change require radical large-scale solutions. Radical innovations developed by multiple competitors collaborating in strategic innovation networks could be such a solution. However, managing multilateral coopetition (i.e., simultaneous cooperation and competition between more than two competitors) in a network setting is challenging due to a greater number of network participants, which amplifies coopetitive tensions. Contributing to the research on coopetition, the paper addresses the question, ‘how can multilateral coopetition be effectively managed in strategic innovation networks to develop radical innovations?‘. We report insights from a longitudinal case study of Cleansky, a network formed and jointly funded by eleven competitors and the European Commission to develop ‘zero emission’ aircraft. We find a two-layered multilateral coopetition at strategic and operational levels within Cleansky, identify differences in the management of multilateral coopetition at these two levels. We show that to effectively manage multilateral coopetition in strategic innovation networks, firms comanage the network at the strategic level in a coopetitive Network Management Office (NMO) and separate the daily activities operationally and manage them with a combination of contractual and relational mechanisms implemented by key individuals. We also compare how this management changed with the evolution of the Cleansky network. These findings fill the gap in the coopetition literature by shifting this research toward a dynamic perspective on managing multilateral coopetition in a strategic innovation network setting.