Business Relationships Between Businesses and Customers

Abstract

Coopetition (mix of cooperation and competition) is a strategy used by most businesses that mutually benefit from each other (Pattinson et al., 2018; Gnyawali et al., 2016). Coopetition was seen among vaccine and medical equipment manufacturers in the USA, Germany, and China who shared knowledge to collectively develop Covid-19 vaccines and other equipment such as masks and ventilators (Bloomberg, 2021; Reuters, 2020). Crick and Crick (2020) suggest decision-making authorities to adopt coopetition strategies during emergencies and benefit mutually through data sharing and law relaxations. Crick and Crick (2020) also identify technological collaborations between technology providers such as Apple and Google to be beneficial to business organizations and the public. Businesses must quickly and strategically make their move during global crises to deal with challenges (Liu et al., 2020). Businesses must also design predictive models to plan uninterrupted supply chain (Liu et al., 2020). This could include setting up manufacturing units in different geographical locations, diversified business operations, and so on. Multinational companies (MNCs) are capable of mobilizing funds and resources in emergencies since they operate in multiple locations. The predictive model must consider different scenarios (Liu et al., 2020) such as financial, health, and economy crises. Organizations must now include pandemics, natural disasters, wars, and so on in emergency preparedness and have a strategy in place. For business sustainability, the “triple bottom line” theory is considered most suitable for designing a firm’s strategy. This theory speaks of maintaining a perfect balance between people, profit, and planet (Elkington, 2013; Mattera et al., 2021).