Coordination in inter-network co-opetitition: Evidence from the tourism sector

In this paper, we investigate whether and to what extent formal governance forms such as contracts are a necessary condition to manage coopetitive interactions among networks. We situate our analysis within the tourism sector where we gain insights from an in-depth exemplar case of co-opetition among nearby Italian tourism destinations conjointly developing and marketing an event, the Pink Night Festival. We suggest that coordination mechanisms with varying degrees of formality seem to play a crucial role to manage coopetitive interactions. Subsequently, we identify eight key drivers of formalization of coordination mechanisms in inter-network co-opetitition: 1) leadership; 2) brokerage and pivotal attitude; 3) power asymmetry; 4) focus on strategic thinking; 5) maturity of network management approach; 6) maturity and distance of the marketing approach; 7) past experience working together; 8) cultural, functional and organizational similarities. Last, we develop a conceptual framework highlighting that each stage of the evolution of an inter-network coopetitive relationship has key features in terms of the underlying coordination mechanisms.