Symbiosis in LOs LO11321

RMTomasko@aol.com
Sun, 8 Dec 1996 19:12:41 -0500

Rol, Ben and others (LO11277) make an interesting point about competitors
making each other better competitors.

This thread has noted examples of how intense rivalry makes those involved
strong. I agree this often happens; what I wonder about is how deliberate
this is, or should be.

Does anyone know of instances where a company's strategy
deliberately/explicitly included the objective of strengthening its
competition? Or is this something that only tends to happen as a
by-product of something else?

Does Coke have a plan to strengthen Pepsi, Nokia for Motorola, GE for ABB,
Panasonic for Sony, L.L. Bean for Eddie Bauer and Lands End? Should they?

I've heard some of the ideas discussed on this thread dubbed "strategic
altruism" by business researchers. I'm all for altruistic behavior, I
just wonder to what extent it is cause, and what extent it is
effect/by-product?

Bob Tomasko
RMTomasko@aol.com

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RMTomasko@aol.com

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