When your problem becomes my problem

What happens to my operations when a competitor’s operations are disrupted? While research has examined how a disrupted firm can recover, little attention has been paid to competitors, except their ability to exploit the disruption for economic gain. This is problematic, as firms increasingly leverage interconnected resources and infrastructure. We show that an airline’s IT outages affect on‐time performance of competitors’ flights to and from its hub airports. However, the effects depend on both who is disrupted, and who is reacting to that disruption. The disruptions of full‐service carriers (FSCs) delay competitors’ flights, but that of a low‐cost carrier (LCC) leads to early arrivals and departures. Further, LCCs are significantly more nimble reacting to disruptions compared to FSCs.