Comments on: Competition, Colleagues, or Partners?

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:55:08 +0000

Sally — I don’t agree that conflicts are fatal. Conflicts can be resolved. And when they are, you usually find out that you’ve learnt a great deal.

By: Sally

Sally — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:24:22 +0000

Conflicts are fatal. If you are going to open your own company, you need to be prepared for everything.

By: Climb to the Stars (Stephanie Booth) » November 2007 Recap

Climb to the Stars (Stephanie Booth) » November 2007 Recap — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:23:23 +0000

[...] my own company. I announced this and also blogged some of my first musings as an entrepreneur: Competition, Colleagues, or Partners?. Way more about this in December or under the Going Solo [...]

By: Jérôme

Jérôme — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:39:51 +0000

That remembers me a book titled Competitive advantage by Michael Porter. I think that there isn't a unique response. It depends of the market and the number of competitors. I know a market, very close, where all competitors share their business according to their capacity : all invitations to tender are biased !

You will probably loose friends because they will see you only as a competitor but I think that if the market is big enough, you will mainly see each other as colleagues. On some big projects you will probably have to work together.

If you want, I can send you by mail a draft of everything an officer has to think of.

By: Suw

Suw — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:56:16 +0000

It’s good to see you talking about this in the open, Steph, because I think this is an aspect of going into business that most peole feel too scared to broach. As Peter said, there are many examples of “co-opetition”, where companies co-operate despite also being in competition. I would like to think that more enlightened companies would consider such a move, but experience also tells me to be wary both when you are approached, and when you decide to approach. Co-opetition can be a great thing, so long as everyone is open, honest, and transparent.

Your new business is going to have an impact on your network - some people will undoubtedly feel unhappy or slighted somehow, but you’ll attract other people who are interested in your work. It will even itself out. If you continue to be as positive and open as you normally are, though, I think you’ll do just fine.

By: Peter Childs

Peter Childs — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:29:25 +0000

There was a great book written about ‘98 called Co-opetition that looked at the issue of competitors co-operating for mutual benefit. Very far sighted and useful

A lot depends on the management of companies in the field you’re interested in. If they are strategic they can be very easy to work with – but don’t get too comfortable – because they’re likely co-operating to exclude another party from the market you’re taking – possibly with the long term hope of taking it from you.

That gets to the core of business co-operation – as soon as you’ve chosen one partner you automatically exclude other partnerships, and just because you’re a partner now doesn’t mean you won’t be competitors later.

Good luck on your business.