How Coopetition Relationships Impact Breakthrough Innovation for Incumbent Enterprises

Incumbent enterprises are the primary drivers of independent innovation in science and technology. However, due to organizational inertia, these enterprises often face significant obstacles when attempting to carry out innovative activities. Therefore, configuring coopetition relationships is essential for achieving breakthrough innovation. This study employs response surface modeling to explore the influence mechanism between coopetition relationships and breakthrough innovation. It establishes a threshold model to provide insights into how knowledge collaboration affects breakthrough innovation. The findings indicate that different combinations of coopetition relationships have varying impacts on breakthrough innovation. Additionally, knowledge collaboration acts as a mediating variable in this process, demonstrating a single threshold effect that leads to a nonlinear incremental trend in the influence of knowledge collaboration on breakthrough innovation.