Operating Principle
2–4 min read
Competitive strategy isn’t purely zero-sum, and treating every interaction with a rival as a fight loses real value that’s available through selective cooperation. Firms in the same industry often share a genuine interest in things that don’t actually determine who wins customers: common technical standards, shared industry infrastructure, joint advocacy on regulation that affects everyone.
Cooperating on those shared, non-differentiating dimensions while competing hard on the dimensions that actually win customers, product, service, price, isn’t a contradiction. It’s a more accurate read of where the real competitive fight is actually happening, rather than treating every touchpoint with a rival as part of that fight.
Operating Question
Why It Matters
Firms that treat every interaction with a competitor as adversarial miss genuine value available through selective cooperation on shared, non-differentiating concerns. Identifying which dimensions are genuinely competitive and which are shared infrastructure, then cooperating deliberately on the latter, frees up more energy to compete hard on the former.
Supporting Evidence
Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff, “Co-opetition”
Research Notes
Cooperation on shared dimensions requires real trust and clear boundaries to avoid drifting into anticompetitive coordination on pricing or customers, which carries genuine legal risk.
Not every industry has meaningful non-differentiating dimensions worth cooperating on; the opportunity varies by how much shared infrastructure genuinely exists.
Practical Actions
Identify dimensions in your industry that are genuinely shared infrastructure, not competitive differentiators.
Consider selective cooperation with competitors on those specific shared dimensions.
Keep competitive intensity focused on the dimensions that actually determine customer choice.
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