Considering coopetition strategies in sport tourism networks: a look at the nonprofit nautical sports clubs on the northern coast of France

Abstract

Research question: Value co-creations from business to business are rarely studied. However, this type of value co-creation is essential to better understand sport tourism networks. With this article, we propose to study coopetition strategies, i.e., a mix of competition and cooperation among organizations. Previous research in sport management has revealed that nonprofits rely greatly on interorganizational relationships to subsist and to grow. However, there is a need to better understand the parameters of coopetition strategies among nonprofits, or with for-profit and/or public corporations in the sport tourism industry, in order to comprehend how value is created at the network level. Our review of the literature led us to organize these parameters by nature and complexity of coopetition. Research method: an in-depth qualitative approach of seven nonprofits, three public corporations, and one for-profit organization from the northern coast of France was used for the study. Results and findings: the authors propose a taxonomy of six coopetition strategies used by the nonprofits (event-related coopetition, vertical integration with cooptation by a public corporation, vertical integration without cooptation by a public corporation, vertical integration without cooptation by a for-profit, horizontal multisport integration among nonprofits, and horizontal multilocation integration among nonprofits). Value co-creations and risks of value destruction displayed by the strategies observed are discussed. Implications: the paper extends findings in coopetition from the goods industry to the service industry. It also discusses cross-sector relationships and value destruction, topics which are rarely studied.