Alliances and networks

Strategy research underscores the role of alliances and networks in driving cooperation and value creation across firm boundaries. This chapter discusses the relational and structural characteristics of alliance ties, centering on questions related to the formation and performance implications of alliances and networks, including multiparty alliances, alliance portfolios and ecosystems. The chapter discusses the various theoretical perspectives used in studying the formation and development of alliances, the choice of partners, value creation and capture, the governance of alliances, their portfolio configuration, and network dynamics. Besides discussing the foundations and recent work on alliances and networks, future research directions are identified. Some opportunities include examining the microfoundations of alliance relationships, analyzing the failure of relational mechanisms, disentangling value creation from value capture dynamics, studying cognitive and behavioral antecedents of network evolution, the tradeoff between routinization and flexibility in alliance management, and the unique nature of cooperation in ecosystems versus dyadic alliances.