Strategic alliances are cooperative arrangements that
seek to achieve organizational objectives better through
collaboration than through competition, but alliances
also generate problems at several levels of analysis.
Theory and research have likewise proliferated to
explain various dimensions of alliance behavior. After
presenting a typology of diverse governance forms, we
review recent analyses of alliance formation,
implementation management, performance outcomes and
societal consequences of collaborative activities.
Throughout we emphasize how alliance networks serve as
corporate social capital to further both the individual
and collective objectives of partners. We conclude with
some speculations about future directions for theory
construction and empirical research on strategic
alliances. pdf 2002
