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Co-opetition, simultaneous cooperation and competition, is a recent phenomenon. Co-opetition entails sharing knowledge that may be a key source of competitive advantage. Yet, the knowledge gained by cooperation may also be used for competition. However, there is little investigation of how this problem may be modelled and, hence, managed. A game-theoretic framework for analysing interorganisational knowledge sharing under co-opetition and guidelines for the management of explicit knowledge predicated on coordination and control theory has been proposed, but remains untested. This research empirically investigates these issues in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs provide an interesting setting as they are knowledge generators, but are poor at knowledge exploitation. The paper uses data from U.K. SMEs to investigate co-opetition, management of knowledge sharing and the role of IS.

Corporate knowledge is considered a crucial determinant of sustainable competitive advantage. Recent resource-leveraging strategies emphasize inter-firm collaboration and knowledge sharing across firm boundaries, however. This strategic paradox of protecting versus sharing knowledge suggests the need for new paradigms that reconcile intra-and inter-organizational knowledge sharing. Building on organizational collaboration and control theory, this paper investigates contingencies of inter-organizational knowledge sharing and proposes four configurations of interorganizational knowledge sharing for managing the paradox. It concludes with a critical review, suggestions for further conceptual and empirical research, and implications for research and practice.

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