Horizontal Versus Vertical Coopetition: The Tunisian Manufacturing Industry

By opting for coopetition strategy, some companies prefer the horizontal one while others opt for the vertical. Furthermore, some coopetitions are rather aggressive, while others are rather cooperative. Nevertheless, the reasons for using one or the other of these strategies remain still ambiguous. This article aims to explain the reasons, both internal and external, for the use of each type of coopetition and its nature. By adopting a quantitative hypothetico-deductive approach, and through a sample of Tunisian industrial companies, this study confirms that the need for strategic capabilities holds the strongest weight that the competitive intensity in the explanation of the coopetition type and its nature.