Considering Cooperation and Alliances

Abstract

Legions of literature have treated aspects of interfirm cooperation and alliances and have diffusely used and defined the terms in question by using a multitude of different theories or empirical cases. A clarification of terms and concepts used in the subsequent analysis is therefore considered necessary and helpful and will thus precede the detailed elaboration on governance systems in an interorganizational setting. The starting point will therefore be the definition of the concept of cooperation in general for then applying it on the field in focus, the business environment.