Collaboration between competitors is fashionable. Toyota and General Motors build cars, Siemens and Philips create semiconductors, Kodak receives photocopiers from Canon, and France’s Thomson and Japan’s JVC make videocassette recorders.

As businesses or brands, we must ensure we embrace the “collaboration over competition” culture. This serves our business and saves us from unnecessary drama, remorse, and hatred for industry colleagues.

Being preoccupied with what other people are doing limits your perspective as a business. Instead of inventing and taking the lead in your industry, you are only attempting to outdo them.

Don’t keep up with the competition by just one step. Be a pioneer in your field. This article will teach you how to embrace collaboration over competition in the marketplace. Firstly, let us find out what competition is.

What is Competition?

According to an article written by Illisa Miller of Forbes, “Coopetition” is a term used to describe unconventional collaboration and cooperation within an otherwise competitive field of players.

By employing the tactic of “coopetition” within the telecom and technology sectors, organizations gain the opportunity to partner with similar providers in disparate markets to extend their reach and breadth of services.

When companies learn to work together effectively, industry competitors can reach a wider global market while still leveraging their unique value proposition to stand out amongst the crowd.

Why you should collaborate and not compete

In the “collaboration vs. competition conundrum,” traditionally, we have seen that collaboration outweighs rivalry for businesses, especially sales. Among the benefits that collaboration could bring to the workplace according to rocket.chat are:

1. Knowledge transfer: Collaboration at work is without a doubt the ideal setting for knowledge sharing. In addition to gaining hard skills from their coworkers, those who collaborate also develop their soft talents. Additionally, observing how others view the same issue might encourage workers to think broadly in the future. The finished result is also certain to be of greater quality from several points of view than it may be by a single designer.
2. Greater profits due to lower expenses: Through collaborations, you may reduce your R&D expenses, improve your supply chain negotiations, and attract more investors. By splitting the risk, you also cut down on future costs that could arise.
3. Additional knowledge: You have access to their staff and experience whether you operate with a firm from a related field or one that is completely unrelated. This enables you both to provide goods and services that would be difficult for you to manufacture otherwise.
4. They can aid in strengthening your email campaign: This one is likewise about dispersing useful knowledge. Your email campaign could be strengthened with the aid of the information your rival partner can offer. You may use it to modify your emails in a way that will grab the attention of your readers. There are several marketing strategies available nowadays that can assist you with this process.
5. Expanded consumer base: Both parties will reach a market they would not otherwise have access to if you each promote your partner’s business to your respective consumer groups. You may develop coordinated advertising and marketing efforts to extend that reach even further.

How to Create Robust Defenses when collaborating

According to Harvard Business Review, each partner must bring something unique to the cooperation in order for it to be successful, including fundamental research, product development expertise, manufacturing capabilities, and distribution access.

The challenge is to share just enough expertise to give the alliance members an edge over rival businesses while avoiding a wholesale transfer of core competencies to the partner.

There is a fine line to be drawn here. Companies need to be selective about the technology and expertise they transfer to their partners. They must create measures to prevent unauthorized, informal information exchanges. The intention is to reduce their operations’ openness.

Conclusion

Being preoccupied with what other people are doing limits your perspective. Instead of inventing and taking the lead in your industry, you are only attempting to outdo them.

Working together with a rival can provide you access to data, analytics, trends, and fresh resources that are advantageous to both parties. Together, we can find new sales prospects, encourage cross-selling, and plan marketing campaigns.