Coopetition: cooperation among competitors to enhance applied research and drive innovation in elite sport

The essence of competition is often understood as a situation of mutually exclusive goal attainment, where one side succeeds only if another does not. However, and as studied by the game theory, this standard view may be too narrow and simplistic when trying to understand complex interactions.¹ Researchers in business and management have expanded on this and explored cases of simultaneous cooperation and competition (ie, coopetition) as the most complex but advantageous relationship among competitors and as an effective strategy to drive innovation.²