Management of coopetitive tensions in SMEs of the Ecuadorian agro-industrial sector: Conflicts, rivalries, and interests

The purpose of the research was to identify the sources of tensions, the factors that determine their magnitude and the circumstances that influence the management of said tensions in the context of coopetitive interactions between SMEs belonging to the agro-industrial sector of Ecuador. In the study, carried out with a qualitative approach using multiple case studies and grounded theory, 25 cases of companies belonging to the banana, cocoa, shrimp, and flowers subsectors of that country were included, in which 54 executives and 15 management experts participated strategic. The results indicate that the tensions and conflicts that occur in coopetitive relationships derive from unilateral factors associated with the organization, and from multilateral factors associated with the sector or the market. The study highlights the importance of strengthening the ability to manage tensions and conflicts that occur between companies that compete and collaborate simultaneously to increase the perceived value of the customer and the network, even in the presence of conflicts, rivalries, and divergent interests. This implies that interested parties must be able to deploy new inter-business interactions based on trust, mutual respect, and recognition of legitimate interests, with the aim of sharing resources, reducing costs, and taking advantage of new business opportunities. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that it is the first study that addresses, from an empirical perspective, the way in which the coopetitive paradox manifests itself in Ecuadorian SMEs.

本研究旨在识别厄瓜多尔农业工业部门（agro-industrial sector）内中小企业（Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs）之间开展竞合互动（coopetitive interactions）时的冲突根源、决定冲突烈度的影响因素，以及影响此类冲突治理的情境条件。本研究采用质性研究范式，结合多案例研究与扎根理论（grounded theory）方法，共纳入该国香蕉、可可、虾类及花卉四大细分行业的25家企业作为研究样本，受访对象涵盖54名企业高管与15名战略管理专家。研究结果显示，竞合关系中产生的冲突与张力，源自企业自身层面的单边因素，以及行业或市场层面的多边因素。本研究强调，需强化对同时存在竞争与合作关系的企业间冲突与张力的治理能力，以此提升客户与合作网络的感知价值，即便其间存在冲突、竞争与利益分歧。这意味着相关主体需基于信任、相互尊重与合法利益认同，构建新型企业间互动模式，以实现资源共享、成本降低与新商业机遇的捕捉。本研究的创新之处在于，其首次从实证视角探讨了厄瓜多尔中小企业中竞合悖论（coopetitive paradox）的具体表现形式。