Cooperation and Coopetition in SME Networks: A Bibliometric Study

The theory and research existing on relationships between competitors concentrates either on competitive relationships or on cooperative relationships and broadly argues that one relationship type harms or threatens the other. However, what do we really understand about progress in the literature on the strategic triad— cooperation, competition, and coopetition? Through bibliometric analysis, we aim here to contribute to providing a state-of-the-art overview on this theme in order to better grasp how this triad has evolved over time. To this end, this study applies a combination of bibliometric techniques such as citations, co-citations, and social network analysis to examine the scientifi c fi eld of cooperation and competition. The survey conducted resulted in 1151 articles with publication dates between 1963 (Article 1) and 2015 (29 articles). We classifi ed this systematic literature review into three periods of analysis: (1) Period I (1963 and 2000), the big bang approach to competition and cooperation; (2) Period II (2001 and 2009), with competition camoufl aged by cooperation; and (3) Period III (2010–2015), the psychology of cooperation and competition.