Cooperation between competing organizations (co-opetition) to achieve com-mon objectives has become a prerequisite for global competitiveness and innov-ativeness. Co-opetition is a business strategy which emphasizes both cooper-ative and competitive relations between two or more organizations. It implies that firms, especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), perform better when they are involved in competitive and cooperative relationships at the same time and combine their complementary strengths to create synergies. The present study discusses the various definitions and types of co-opetition strategy and addresses the implications of economic crisis on SMEs. Finally, the paper suggests that co-opetition could be an appropriate business strategy for SMEs in difficult economic conditions provided that they develop a co-opetitive portfolio with different kinds of partners by seeking to obtain the advantages of each partnership and become more competitive.
