COOPETITION STRATEGIES IN THE BRAZILIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

DAL-SOTO, FÁBIO; MONTICELLI, JEFFERSON MARLON

doi:10.1590/S0034-759020170106

FÁBIO DAL-SOTO

Professor at Universidade de Cruz Alta, Centro de Ciências Humanas e Sociais - Cruz Alta - RS, Brazil. dalsoto.gel@terra.com.br

JEFFERSON MARLON MONTICELLI

PhD Student in Administration at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos - São Leopoldo - RS, Brazil. jeffmarlon@hotmail.com

Categories	Competition	Cooperation	Coopetition
Concepts	Dispute by the agents for the same resources that cannot be achieved individually (Padula & Dagnino, 2007Padula, G., & Dagnino, G. B. (2007). Untangling the rise of coopetition: The intrusion of competition in a cooperative game structure. International Studies of Management & Organization, 37(2), 32-52.). Maximization of individual interests (Bengtsson & Kock, 2000Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (2000). "Coopetition" in business networks - to cooperate and compete simultaneously. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(5), 411-426. foi:10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00... ).	Division of skills or additional resources for mutual or superior benefit (Osarenkhoe, 2010Osarenkhoe, A. (2010). A study of inter-firm dynamics between competition and cooperation - A coopetition strategy. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17(3), 201-221. doi:10.1057/dbm.2010.23 https://doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2010.23... ).	Cooperation in areas different from where they compete (Bengtsson & Kock, 2000Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (2000). "Coopetition" in business networks - to cooperate and compete simultaneously. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(5), 411-426. foi:10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00... ) or in a chain that adds value to the firm (Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 1995Brandenburger, A. M., & Nalebuff, B. J. (1995). The right game: Use game theory to shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 73(4). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/ https://hbr.org/... ).
Objectives	Gains higher than the competitors.	Resource sharing to access new markets, creation of entry barriers and focusing on target activity.	Creation of opportunities, removal of external obstacles, or neutralization of threats.
Theoretical background	Competitive advantage. Distinctive competencies.	Resource Based View (RBV).	Game Theory, Transaction Cost theory (TCT), Resource Based View (RBV).
Premises	Conflict, bargaining power.	Harmony, trust, reciprocity.	Interdependence, dynamism, complexity.
Characteristics	Independent decisions about common goals. Search for a balance between the agents.	Development of joint actions to achieve mutual benefits and common goals. Agents avoid conflict by making cooperative agreements. Use of formal or informal agreements (Osarenkhoe, 2010Osarenkhoe, A. (2010). A study of inter-firm dynamics between competition and cooperation - A coopetition strategy. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17(3), 201-221. doi:10.1057/dbm.2010.23 https://doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2010.23... ; Bengtsson & Kock, 1999Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (1999). Cooperation and competition in relationships between competitors in business networks. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 14(3), 178-194. doi:10.1108/08858629910272184 https://doi.org/10.1108/0885862991027218... ).	Creating and sharing value between agents. Interest structure and partially convergent goals. Overcoming possible intentions of selfish behavior by overlapping interests (Padula & Dagnino, 2007Padula, G., & Dagnino, G. B. (2007). Untangling the rise of coopetition: The intrusion of competition in a cooperative game structure. International Studies of Management & Organization, 37(2), 32-52.; Bengtsson & Kock, 1999Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (1999). Cooperation and competition in relationships between competitors in business networks. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 14(3), 178-194. doi:10.1108/08858629910272184 https://doi.org/10.1108/0885862991027218... , 2000Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (2000). "Coopetition" in business networks - to cooperate and compete simultaneously. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(5), 411-426. foi:10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00... ; Bengtsson et al., 2010Bengtsson, M., Eriksson, J., & Wincent, J. (2010). Co-opetition dynamics - an outline for further inquiry. Competitiveness Review, 20(2), 194-214. doi:10.1108/10595421011029893 https://doi.org/10.1108/1059542101102989... ).
Restrictions for the success of the strategy	Not achieving a performance higher than the others' performance, thus generating a competitive advantage (Porter, 1980Porter, M. (1980). Competitive strategy. New York, USA: Free Press., 1985Porter, M. (1985). Competitive advantage. New York, USA: Free Press.) or distinctive competencies that are difficult to imitate (Barney, 1991Barney, J. B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99-120. doi: 10.1177/014920639101700108 https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206391017001... ; Wernerfelt, 1984Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 5(2), 171-180. doi:10.1002/smj.4250050207 https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250050207... ).	Lack of trust between the agents. Strategic misalignment between the agents. Opportunistic behavior (Tiessen & Linton, 2000Tiessen, J. H., & Linton, J. D. (2000). The JV dilemma: Cooperating and competing in joint ventures. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 17(3), 203-215. doi:10.1111/j.1936-4490.2000.tb00221.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1936-4490.2000... ; Jarillo, 1988; Bengtsson & Kock, 2000Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (2000). "Coopetition" in business networks - to cooperate and compete simultaneously. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(5), 411-426. foi:10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00... ).	Agents invest resources to increase the total to be shared, which will not necessarily be divided equally (Padula & Dagnino, 2007Padula, G., & Dagnino, G. B. (2007). Untangling the rise of coopetition: The intrusion of competition in a cooperative game structure. International Studies of Management & Organization, 37(2), 32-52.; Abdallah & Wadhwa, 2009Abdallah, F., & Wadhwa, A. (2009). Collaborating with your rivals: Identifying sources of coopetitive performance. Copenhagen, Denmark: Copenhagen Business School.).
Criticism	Lack of recognition of the dependence of the firm's decisions on the industry and economic imperfections (Osarenkhoe, 2010Osarenkhoe, A. (2010). A study of inter-firm dynamics between competition and cooperation - A coopetition strategy. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17(3), 201-221. doi:10.1057/dbm.2010.23 https://doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2010.23... ).	Lack of recognition of competitive forces or these being seen as negative influences (Padula & Dagnino, 2007Padula, G., & Dagnino, G. B. (2007). Untangling the rise of coopetition: The intrusion of competition in a cooperative game structure. International Studies of Management & Organization, 37(2), 32-52.).	Opportunism, asymmetry, perception of justice between those involved (Gulati et al., 2000Gulati, R., Nohria, N., & Zaheer, A. (2000). Strategic networks. Strategic Management Journal, 21(3), 203-215. doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(200003)21:3<203::aid-smj102>3.0.co;2-k https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(... ). Difficulty to replicate the predictive model based on the Game Theory for the coopetitive environment (Armstrong, 1997Armstrong, J. S. (1997). Why can't a game be more like a business? A review of Co-opetition by Brandenburger and Nalebuff. Journal of Marketing, 61(2), 92-95. doi:10.2307/1251833 https://doi.org/10.2307/1251833... ).

Institution	Interviewee(s)	Location of the campus/campuses	Number of students (2014 basis)
Comung	President		Approximately 210,000
Pontifícia Universidade	Vice-Dean of Research,	Porto Alegre (main campus) and Viamão (city
Católica do Rio Grande do	Innovation, and	located in the Metropolitan Region of Porto	Approximately 30,000
Sul (PUCRS)	Development	Alegre).
Centro Universitário Univates (Univates)	Dean and Vice-Dean of Business Administration	Lajeado (city located in the West region of the South of Brazil and approximately 110 km from Porto Alegre.)	More than 13,000
Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul (Unisc)	Vice-Dean of Business Administration	Santa Cruz do Sul (city located in the West region of the South of Brazil and approximately 60 km from Lajeado.)	More than 12,000
Centro Universitário La Salle (Unilasalle)	Vice-Dean of Development	Canoas (city located in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre).	More than 8,000
Universidade Regional do		Ijuí (main campus), Santa Rosa, Panambi, and
Noroeste do Estado do Rio	Dean	Três Passos (all located in the North-West of the	More than 10,000
Grande do Sul (Unijuí)		South of Brazil).
Universidade de Cruz Alta (Unicruz)	Dean	Cruz Alta (city located in the North-West of the South of Brazil) and approximately 40 km from Ijuí.	More than 3,000

Categories	Subcategories	References
Competition	Competition for markets, products/services, geographic location; academic areas, competition between the Comung HEIs and other HEIs; factors generating competitive advantage.	Porter (1980Porter, M. (1980). Competitive strategy. New York, USA: Free Press., 1985Porter, M. (1985). Competitive advantage. New York, USA: Free Press.); Padula and Dagnino (2007)Padula, G., & Dagnino, G. B. (2007). Untangling the rise of coopetition: The intrusion of competition in a cooperative game structure. International Studies of Management & Organization, 37(2), 32-52.; Hamel and Prahalad (1994)Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1994). Competing for the future. Harvard Business Review, 72(2). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/ https://hbr.org/... ; Prahalad and Hamel (1990)Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G. (1990). The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68(3). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/ https://hbr.org/... .
Cooperation	Actions, motivations, benefits, symmetry, or asymmetry of power and information, based on trust or contracts, rules and norms to be a member of Comung; formal ties of cooperation with other institutions.	Jarillo (1988, 1993)Jarillo, J. C. (1993). Strategical networks: Creating the borderless organization. Oxford, UK: Butterworth & Heinemann.; Osarenkhoe (2010)Osarenkhoe, A. (2010). A study of inter-firm dynamics between competition and cooperation - A coopetition strategy. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17(3), 201-221. doi:10.1057/dbm.2010.23 https://doi.org/10.1057/dbm.2010.23... ; Tiessen and Linton (2000)Tiessen, J. H., & Linton, J. D. (2000). The JV dilemma: Cooperating and competing in joint ventures. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 17(3), 203-215. doi:10.1111/j.1936-4490.2000.tb00221.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1936-4490.2000... ; Das and Teng (1998)Das., T. K., & Teng, B. S. (1998). Resource and risk management in the strategic alliance making process. Journal of Management, 24(1), 21-42. doi:10.1016/S0149-2063(99)80052-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0149-2063(99)80... .
Coopetition	Conflicts, advantages, difficulties, individual protagonism of the Comung HEIs.	Bengtsson and Kock (1999Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (1999). Cooperation and competition in relationships between competitors in business networks. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 14(3), 178-194. doi:10.1108/08858629910272184 https://doi.org/10.1108/0885862991027218... , 2000)Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. (2000). "Coopetition" in business networks - to cooperate and compete simultaneously. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(5), 411-426. foi:10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00067-X https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00... ; Bengtsson, Eriksson, and Wincent (2010)Bengtsson, M., Eriksson, J., & Wincent, J. (2010). Co-opetition dynamics - an outline for further inquiry. Competitiveness Review, 20(2), 194-214. doi:10.1108/10595421011029893 https://doi.org/10.1108/1059542101102989... ; Gnyawali, He, and Madhavan (2006)Gnyawali, D. R., He, J., & Madhavan, R. (2006). Impact of co-opetition on firm competitive behavior: An empirical examination. Journal of Management, 32(4), 507-530. doi:10.1177/0149206305284550 https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305284550... ; Padula and Dagnino (2007)Padula, G., & Dagnino, G. B. (2007). Untangling the rise of coopetition: The intrusion of competition in a cooperative game structure. International Studies of Management & Organization, 37(2), 32-52..

Administrative actions

- Joint political movement together with regulatory agencies of the federal government, such as the Ministry of Education, CAPES, and CNPq.
- Active participation and support in the construction and implementation of student loan programs by the federal government (e.g., the Student Financing Fund [Fundo de Financiamento Estudantil - FIES]) and partial and integral grants (e.g., Program University for All [Programa Universidade para Todos – Prouni]).
- Active participation in the construction and approval of a specific federal regulation that recognizes the status of the community universities (Law No. 12881, 2013) and the tax recovery plan (Incentive Program for Restructuring and Strengthening of Higher Education Institutions – [Programa de Estímulo à Reestruturação e ao Fortalecimento das Instituições de Ensino Superior – Proies], Law No. 12688, 2012).
- Joint action with other national and regional entities, such as the Brazilian Association of the Community Universities (Associação Brasileira das Universidades Comunitárias [ABRUC]), the Association of Educational Foundations in the State of Santa Catarina (Associação Catarinense das Fundações Educacionais [ACAFE]), the Brazilian Association of Educational and Evangelical Institutions (Associação Brasileira de Instituições Educacionais Evangélicas [ABIEE]), the National Association of Catholic Education of Brazil (Associação Nacional de Educação Católica do Brasil [ANEC]) to reinforce their bargaining power with the federal government.
- Joint negotiation with teachers’ and technical and administrative civil servants’ unions.
- Joint purchases of materials and software, which has several obstacles, such as cooperation difficulties in the middle ranks of the HEIs management, differences in the specifications of the materials and methods of payment, and relationships with local suppliers of each HEI according to their community character.
- Two editions of MBAs in Management of HEIs for the qualification of managers, including an international module in European universities.
- Sharing managerial experiences and administrative procedures.

Academic actions

- Association to joint implementation of post-graduation courses (e.g., Master’s Degree in Full Attention to Health - Unicruz and Unijuí; Ph.D. in Business Administration - PUCRS and UCS).
- The offer of a continuing education program for general teachers (with experts from Finland participating in one of the editions) and specifically for teachers in the field of Engineering.
- Preparation of Internal Notices of Research by the Comung, involving researchers from at least three HEIs to foster research and associated research lines.
- Agreements with foreign universities to share experiences of students and teachers (e.g., UAS7 – Seven Universities of Applied Sciences, Germany).
- Two Comung Seminars to discuss teaching, research, extension, and management activities.
- Exchange of experiences of implementation and management of academic courses and programs.

Brasil

Brasil

COOPETITION STRATEGIES IN THE BRAZILIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Estratégias de coopetição na educação superior brasileira

Estrategias de coopetición en la educación superior brasileña

ABSTRACT