Friends and foes: Embracing coopetition for sustainability in the New Zealand alternative protein industry

Abstract

Developing solutions to sustainability challenges requires cooperation among various stakeholders, including organizations that compete at the same time. Prior studies investigate the barriers, drivers, outcomes and tensions of coopetition among sustainable entrepreneurs. In this paper, we consider the coopetition both among sustainable entrepreneurs and between sustainable entrepreneurs and incumbents. Based on interviews with 23 key stakeholders from the New Zealand alternative protein industry, our findings confirm that value alignment plays an important role in determining firms' openness to coopetition and misalignment can hinder coopetitive relationships. However, value misalignment can be mitigated in situations where sustainable entrepreneurs demonstrate high sustainability orientation, allowing for coopetition between sustainable entrepreneurs and incumbents. Finally, coopetition with incumbents enables sustainable entrepreneurs to support sustainable development. Overall, these findings suggest that coopetition is an important yet complex strategy for sustainable entrepreneurs. The findings provide several contributions to the literature regarding sustainable entrepreneurship and coopetition.