At a time when universities have to position themselves on their approach regarding MOOCs, this paper presents the institutional background of MOOC deployment in two universities: the University of Montreal and the Université libre de Bruxelles. This analysis of MOOC strategies is carried out from the point of view of the main actors and outlines the context, process and arguments that led to the collaboration of the two institutions and the decisions they made to strategically position and implement their MOOC initiatives. Building on the collaboration instigated in the G3 initiative, the two institutions worked together to develop the positioning underlying the process, which led to some similar choices (means to ensure quality, research/deployment harmonization), but also some different ones. Each institution anticipated benefits based on its own context, which ultimately influenced its specific choice of courses: pedagogical innovation, professional development, focus on research work or teaching work, production of widely accessible and reusable educational resources, etc. The explanation of the choices made and their impacts is informative for any institution that wishes to develop its own MOOC strategy.