Study on Co-Opetition in China’s Edible Mushroom Industry: Take Shandong Province as an Example

Abstract

During the last few years, large-scale enterprises that engage in commercial cultivation of edible mushrooms have been growing at a very fast pace, bringing about new changes to the industrial structure of the edible mushroom industry. Co-existence of large-scale enterprises and small-scale farmers has become the long-term status quo of the edible mushroom industry. How to promote proportional development for these two important industrial bodies has become a pressing issue for the edible mushroom industry in Shandong Province. This paper studies Co-opetition in the edible mushroom industry in Shandong Province, in regard to aspects and effect on industrial competition pattern, motives, benefits, potential challenges and evolution of co-opetition. This paper concludes that by carrying out price insurance on edible mushrooms, developing intermediary organizations and reinforcing government support, co-opetition between the two will become more efficient, which in turn, will promote the evolution to the mode of “balanced co-opetition” and optimize the organization of the edible mushroom industry.