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

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.