Getting to Win-Win in Inter-organizational Relationships Through Customer Segmentation

Coopetition describes a phenomenon in which actors simultaneously cooperate and compete with each other. A stable and sustainable coopetitive relationship is predicated on the presence of one or more win-win strategies. In this paper, we demonstrate the generation of a win-win strategy by two startup companies in a business relationship in the real-world. Originally, these startup companies regarded each other as rivals. In the course of our Action Research engagement, conceptual modeling revealed that, contrary to their original assumptions, the two companies operated in different input and output markets. Therefore, instead of engaging in adversarial behavior, they could benefit from cooperation. We use i* strategic actor modeling, with actor specialization, to differentiate customer segments, in combination with game-theoretic analysis. The resulting artefacts, our conceptual models, are being used by the founders of these startup companies to inform their decision-making.