Alliances with frenemies: capability-building mechanisms linking coopetition to firm performance
研究了竞合如何通过吸收能力和组织遗忘这两种学习能力影响企业财务与非财务绩效，发现吸收能力起中介作用，而组织遗忘则催化吸收能力的发展。
Coopetition functions as a double-edged sword, offering both benefits and costs. Drawing on the capability-building perspective, we examine the intermediate mechanism through which coopetition gives rise to superior performance. We explore two interrelated yet seemingly paradoxical learning capabilities, namely absorptive capacity (AC) and unlearning, which serve as mediating mechanisms that link coopetition to financial and non-financial performance. Our findings from a sample of 190 Iranian SMEs confirm that AC mediates the effect of coopetition on both financial and non-financial performance, whereas unlearning did not directly mediate any of these relationships. However, we found that unlearning serves as an important catalyst for the development of AC, which in turn affects performance. This study contributes to the literature by examining the bridging mechanism underlying the performance impact of coopetition and contributes to the debate on the development of capabilities in coopetition partnerships.