Title: Bridging disciplines in alliances and networks: in search for solutions for the managerial relevance gap

Authors: John Bell; Edwin Kaats; Wilfrid Opheij

Addresses: Philips Research, High Tech Campus 34, 5656 AE Eindhoven, the Netherlands ' Twynstra Gudde, P.O. Box 907, 3800AX Amersfoort, the Netherlands ' Twynstra Gudde, P.O. Box 907, 3800AX Amersfoort, the Netherlands

Abstract: Suppose you are an alliance manager and you want to set up or manage an alliance. Or you are an alliance consultant who advises network partners to make their relationship run more smoothly. Then, you would appreciate to find valuable advice in the literature of cooperation. However, in studying the contemporary academic literature, we concluded that it offers at best only piecemeal advice on the process of cooperation. No integrative framework was found that could provide coherence and guidance on the various stages of cooperation. This paper attempts to develop such a framework, building upon relevant streams and articles in literature. We developed five lenses to look at cooperation and used two cases (The Healthy Region and the Senseo Alliance) to illustrate how these five lenses can work.

Keywords: strategic alliances; networks; managerial relevance; cooperation; collaboration; partnerships; inter-organisational relationships; integrative framework.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSBA.2013.058297

International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances, 2013 Vol.3 No.1, pp.50 - 68

Accepted: 01 Sep 2013
Published online: 19 Jul 2014 *

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