The role of knowledge-intensive service activities on inducing innovation in co-opetition strategies: lessons from the maritime cluster of the Algarve region

Abstract

The formalisation of co-opetition strategies by clusters encourages the maintenance of a collaborative mindset, but only if companies and other cluster members are able to deal with the apparent contradiction involving competitive cooperation. One way of increasing the efficiency of the open innovation processes increasingly adopted refers to the use of knowledge-intensive service activities (KISAs). Through enquiries carried out over a sample of 127 firms of the maritime cluster of the Algarve, we evaluate: the importance and current degree of consolidation of co-opetition dynamics inside the maritime cluster of the Algarve and the firms' perception towards their relevance. The role played by the activities based on knowledge-intensive business services on inducing and facilitating those co-opetition dynamics capable of triggering innovation within the cluster. A better understanding of the ways in which KISA contribute to innovative activities in the context of co-opetition dynamics inside clusters may lead to more effective public policy measures. As major outcomes of this study, we highlight that co-opetitive relationships must be constructed and managed through the enhancement of certain critical dimensions of firms' competitive strategies, inter alia, those based upon the development of more intensive competitive collaboration aimed at technological innovations and increased technological diversity.