Toward a paradigm of symbiotic entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship often involves independent firms that compete with one another. In this article, we discuss an alternate entrepreneurship strategy, one involving symbiosis – an approach that allows entrepreneurs and their firms to benefit from a multi-polar distribution of power and control. We believe that this is especially helpful in the process of internationalisation. Rather than focusing on the internationalisation of a centralised firm with a uni-polar distribution of power and control, we suggest that the world is moving toward multi-polar networks of firms. As corporations out-source to smaller, specialised firms, power and control are becoming increasingly divided among independent firms that cooperate voluntarily for increased efficiency and profit. Symbiotic relationships are thus leading to multi-polarity, and we are moving beyond a focus on the firm – toward a focus on relationships with multi-polar networks involving symbiotic relationships.