Co-opetition and knowledge co-creation in Japanese supplier-networks: The case of Toyota

This article examines how knowledge co-creation takes place within the Toyota network. We extend the work of Dyer and Nobeoka, who contributed to the theory of network-level learning by showing how Toyota succeeded in ‘creating and managing a high-performance knowledge-sharing network’. By examining the role of co-operation as well as competition in an in-depth case study, our study moves beyond the concept of knowledge sharing towards a theory of knowledge co-creation with suppliers. In doing so, we propose that the duality of competitive and cooperative forces (that is, ‘co-opetition’) in a business partnership has played a hitherto neglected role in the process of knowledge creation for multi-technology innovations.