Abstract

Coopetition addresses the question of when and how to cooperate with competitors in order to create value. Few studies have focused on the dynamics of coopetition in meta-organizations, especially in highly competitive and protected domains such as intellectual property. In this chapter, we tackle this issue by exploring coopetition among actors who agree to license their patents through meta-organizational devices such as patent pools. These meta-organizations result in different criss-crossing patterns of coopetition in market and non-market environments with three objectives: 1) creating value; 2) appropriating value; and 3) preserving created value for members.