Convenor
Convenor's affiliation
Charlotte Chappert
University of Montpellier
Co-convenors
Audrey Rouyre, Andre Nemeh, Nia Telg
Abstract
As technological disruption accelerates, organizations are confronted with challenges so profound that collaboration has become essential. Collaborative and coopetitive dynamics have become essential to foster creativity, build resilience and develop sustainable solutions in uncertain environments. To address these challenges, organizations increasingly open their innovation processes, form alliances, and engage in coopetition within networks and ecosystems.
These dynamics can be studied at multiple levels – inter-organizational, intra-organizational, and inter-individual – across diverse empirical contexts, including multinationals, small and medium-sized (SMEs), start-ups and public organizations.
The CENA (Coopetition, Ecosystems, Networks, Alliances) track welcomes contributions that examine how coopetition, ecosystems, networks and alliances help organizations to navigate technological disruption and societal transformations, foster (sustainable) innovation and support long-term value creation. We particularly encourage research that address major transformations (e.g., AI, digitalization, energy transition, sustainable mobility, among others) and explore their implications for inter-organizational relationships.
Description
Rapid technological disruptions are reshaping industries, organizations and inter-organizational relationships. To remain competitive, organizations increasingly rely on collective strategies, such as collaboration and coopetition (i.e. cooperation with competitors). These strategies are not only crucial for tackling innovation challenges but also for fostering creativity and building resilience. Understanding how organizations effectively implement such strategies in different configurations, such as networks and ecosystems, has therefore become essential.
The CENA (Coopetition, Ecosystems, Networks, Alliances) track builds on a long-standing academic community that investigates these topics. For the 2026 R&D Management Conference, we particularly invite contributions examining how coopetition, ecosystems, networks and alliances help organizations navigate technological disruption, foster creativity and (sustainable) innovation, and support long-term value creation.
We strongly encourage research addressing major technological disruptions and sustainability-related transformations (e.g., AI, digitalization, digital platforms, sustainable mobility and energy transitions) and exploring their implications for inter-organizational relationships. Contributions can adopt multidisciplinary approaches (strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing and/or human resource management) and explore different levels of analysis (inter-organizational level, intra-organizational level and/or inter-individual level) across diverse industries (high-tech, low-tech, traditional, service).
We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions that explore the drivers, processes, management, and outcomes of collaborative and coopetitive strategies within network and ecosystem configurations in uncertain and disruptive contexts. Key questions may include:
• Characteristics and features: What forms do collaborative and coopetitive strategies take in contexts of technological disruption? Are they deliberate or emergent strategies? Which types of organizations (multinationals, SMEs, start-ups, public institutions) are involved and what roles do third parties or orchestrators play? How do these strategies differ across networks and ecosystems and how do these configurations foster innovation, creativity and resilience?
• Drivers and antecedents: Why do organizations adopt collaborative and coopetitive strategies in uncertain and disruptive contexts? Which objectives drive these choices? To what extent are creativity and resilience antecedents of these strategies?
• Difficulties, challenges and tensions: What difficulties, challenges and tensions arise when organizations engage in collaborative and coopetitive strategies? What are their sources? Between which actors do they occur, and why? How are they managed? Do technological disruptions generate new types of difficulties, challenges and tensions?
• Management: How can organizations effectively design and implement alliance and coopetition strategies? What governance mechanisms and managerial tools are used to balance innovation, creativity and resilience? How do management practices differ in bilateral or multilateral configurations?
• Outcomes and sustainability: Are collaborative and coopetitive strategies beneficial for organizations and industries? Under what conditions? How do they foster innovation, creativity and resilience? In what ways are coopetition for sustainable innovation, sustainable innovation networks and sustainable innovation ecosystems distinct from traditional forms of innovation strategies? To what extent can creativity and resilience be considered as outcomes of these strategies?
The CENA track provides a dedicated space for researchers interested in understanding how collaborative and coopetitive strategies evolve within networks and ecosystems. This year, we particularly welcome studies that connect these strategies with the dual challenge of fostering creativity and ensuring resilience in times of disruption and transition.