M4 - Co-opetition

Co-Opetition

This article was contributed by Geoff Clynes. Geoff is a partner is Business Line, a Warragul-based marketing group offering help and advice on business development issues. This article is the fourth in a series of eight.

The term co-opetition is often being used these days to describe a more constructive approach to an open market.

Competitors are a key part of our economy. They offer choice, bring new ideas and improvements to markets, help educate customers and set standards of quality and behaviour, terms of trade and communication channels. Every business operator has to live with competitors, so the choice is between treating them as enemies or selectively as colleagues. After all, competitors have so much common ground: for a start, they all want more business.

Is it possible to collaborate to grow your market, and at the same time compete for the customers that suit you best? Because if it is, you’ve found a new group of colleagues. Surprise? Shouldn’t be: perhaps your competitors advertise in the same place, exhibit in the same shows, they often buy from the same suppliers, often trade close together – and in all those cases, they’re collaborating to build a "common market", because the choice and the rivalry in such a market attracts shoppers and benefits everyone. I know some lovely people in Glengarry, but would you rather shop (for almost anything) in Traralgon, or Glengarry?

That’s the thinking behind the co-opetition idea, a movement that makes a lot of sense in a country area where you can use all the friends you can find. Good healthy competition gives customers choice: on price, quality, style, service – but whichever ways you present these choices in your business, hang onto them. They make you special, they protect your piece of the pie.

And while you do, think about the common ground, the activities that are good for everyone. They usually affect the size of the pie: things like festivals, regular markets, co-operative publicity and advertising, shared standards, selling sprees, industry accreditations, application notes and so on.

Try this:

Make a list of your five or so closest competitors. Maybe they sell similar products, deal in the same places, or just appeal to the same people you do for their spare cash.

Then list the issues you share a positive interest with competitors about: Market size, happy customers, new applications, cleaner streets...

Pick out the issues you MUST compete on to preserve your advantage: Price, Delivery, Service, Standards - what are those issues in your business?

Now put it to use:

Find one of your competitors who’s interested in exploring ways to grow the total market.

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© Copyright Business Line 2003: This text is for use and publication by the Gippsland.com web portal, and may be reproduced and distributed without charge. It remains the property of Geoff Clynes & Associates (trading as Business Line), and may not be sold or distributed for profit without the owner’s express permission