Coopetition with platforms: Balancing the interplay of cooperation and competition in hospitality

Abstract

Coopetition—a blend of cooperation and competition—is vital for ensuring hotels work successfully with plat­ forms. Platforms are digital hubs that enable vast numbers of hotels and customers to engage with one another. However, existing research offers limited insight into how hotels balance cooperation and competition when dealing with platforms. Using grounded theory as our research approach, we contribute to the coopetition literature by showing that, contrary to the current view of separating cooperation and competition in different departments, separation occurs at an individual level as managers internally create a boundary between the two forces. At the same time, managers synthesize cooperation and competition without maintaining any boundary among the two forces. Also, contrary to existing perspectives of coopetition that lean towards cooperation or competition depending on degree of closeness to customers, we also show that hotels pursue both forces near and far from the customer in a balanced way.