Cooperative Strategies for Major Asia-Pacific Smart Phone Brands

Over the past three decades, researchers have been focusing on competitive relationships in industries; yet competitive and cooperative relationships simultaneously arise in an industry. Firms that make products depend not only upon themselves, but also on others, including suppliers, buyers, complementors, competitors, etc. This study analyzes cooperation, idiosyncratic resource, and position advantages of major Asia-Pacific smart phone brands in terms of operating system, content provider, mobile operator, retail, and components, which constitute the cooperative value-added system of the mobile phone industry. This study finds that the smart phone brand firms play an integrating role and cooperates in terms of the operating system, content provider, mobile operator, retail, and components as well as platform, content-added, customization, promotion, and innovation. The circle of cooperation can be expanded to cover all major partners and to work with the partners comprehensively and multilaterally. This study also provides a cooperative framework, called the 'Full Moon Model'.