Dynamics of Cooperation: At the Brink of Irrelevance

Alliances have become commonplace. This has led to a considerable number of academic and professional publications on alliances and, more recently, on the dynamics of cooperation. However, the body of knowledge on the dynamics of cooperation developed so far is characterized by fragmentation, lack of coherence and non-comparable research output. There is no consensus on paradigmatic beliefs, which hampers theoretical progress. As a result, there is what we call an academic gap. Moreover, the literature on the dynamics of cooperation often studies research questions that are irrelevant to managers' needs. As a consequence, there is also a managerial relevance gap. The emergence of these two gaps is primarily due to the choice of assumptions, the emphasis on originality, and the use of a variety of methodological approaches. Nevertheless, we believe it is still possible to reverse the trend and make the literature on the dynamics of cooperation more relevant.

[1]  R. Kanter.  Collaborative advantage: The art of alliances , 1994 .

[2]  Christopher Marquis,et al.  Prospects for Organizational Theory in the Early 21st Century: Institutional Fields and Mechanisms , 2005 .

[3]  Y. Doz.  The evolution of cooperation in strategic alliances: Initial conditions or learning processes? , 2007 .

[4]  F. Vermeulen.  On Rigor and Relevance: Fostering Dialectic Progress in Management Research , 2005 .

[5]  J. Armstrong.  The value of surprising findings for research on marketing , 2004 .

[6]  J. Killing,et al.  Strategies for joint venture success , 1983 .

[7]  R. Gulati.  Social Structure and Alliance Formation Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis , 1995 .

[8]  Steven W. Floyd,et al.  Are managers from Mars and academicians from venus? Toward an understanding of the relationship between academic quality and practical relevance , 2004 .

[9]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Suggestions for studying strategy process: A research note , 1992 .

[10]  Ramona L. Paetzold,et al.  PFEFFER'S Barriers to The Advance Of Organizational Science: A Rejoinder , 1994 .

[11]  J. Hennart,et al.  A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures , 1988 .

[12]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Explaining Development and Change in Organizations , 1995 .

[13]  Christopher Marquis,et al.  Special Issue: Frontiers of Organization Science, Part 1 of 2: Prospects for Organization Theory in the Early Twenty-First Century: Institutional Fields and Mechanisms , 2005, Organ. Sci..

[14]  S. Ghoshal.  Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices , 2005 .

[15]  PfefferJeffrey,et al.  Building Organization Theory from First Principles , 2005 .

[16]  J. Salk.  Often called for but rarely chosen: alliance research that directly studies process , 2005 .

[17]  Jeffrey Pfeffer,et al.  The Business School Business: Some Lessons from the U.S. Experience , 2004 .

[18]  Richard C. Hoffman,et al.  The Relevance of Strategy Research: Practitioner and Academic Viewpoints* , 1995 .

[19]  Keith D. Brouthers,et al.  The Five Stages of the Co-operative Venture Strategy Process , 1997 .

[20]  Samuel B. Bacharach,et al.  Organizational Theories: Some Criteria for Evaluation , 1989 .

[21]  J. Hagedoorn,et al.  The institutionalization and evolutionary dynamics of interorganizational alliances and networks. , 1997 .

[22]  Alexander T. Nicolai.  The Bridge to the ‘Real World’: Applied Science or a ‘Schizophrenic Tour de Force’? , 2004 .

[23]  Donald E. Hatfield,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING ON AGGREGATE INDUSTRY SPECIALIZATION , 1996 .

[24]  Ken G. Smith,et al.  Intra-and Interorganizational Cooperation : Toward a Research Agenda , 2007 .

[25]  Jeffrey J. Reuer,et al.  Post-formation dynamics in strategic alliances , 2002 .

[26]  A. Ariño,et al.  Contractual Renegotiations in Strategic Alliances , 2002 .

[27]  Harry G. Barkema,et al.  Working abroad, working with others: How firms learn to operate international joint ventures , 1997 .

[28]  P. Ring,et al.  Developmental Processes of Cooperative Interorganizational Relationships , 1994 .

[29]  T. Das,et al.  A Resource-Based Theory of Strategic Alliances , 2000 .

[30]  S. Park,et al.  The Effect of National Culture, Organizational Complementarity, and Economic Motivation on Joint Venture Dissolution , 1997 .

[31]  Mark de Rond,et al.  On the Dialectics of Strategic Alliances , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[32]  Ken Starkey,et al.  Bridging the Relevance Gap: Aligning Stakeholders in the Future of Management Research , 2001 .

[33]  M. Goold.  Research notes and communications design, learning and planning: A further observation on the design school debate , 1992 .

[34]  W. G. Tymon,et al.  Necessary Properties of Relevant Research: Lessons from Recent Criticisms of the Organizational Sciences , 1982 .

[35]  J. Hennart,et al.  Alliance Research: Less is More , 2006 .

[36]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. , 1964 .

[37]  A. Madhok.  How much does ownership really matter? Equity and trust relations in joint venture relationships , 2006 .

[38]  R. Daft,et al.  Can Organization Studies Begin to Break Out of the Normal Science Straitjacket? An Editorial Essay , 1990 .

[39]  Joseph L. C. Cheng,et al.  Toward an Integration of Organization Research and Practice: A Contingency Study of Bureaucratic Control and Performance in Scientific Settings. , 1983 .

[40]  Ming Zeng,et al.  International Joint Venture Instability: A Critique of Previous Research, A Reconceptualization, and Directions for Future Research , 1999 .

[41]  J. Aken.  Management Research Based on the Paradigm of the Design Sciences: The Quest for Field-Tested and Grounded Technological Rules , 2004 .

[42]  Anne Sigismund Huff,et al.  Citigroup's John Reed and Stanford's James March on management research and practice , 2000 .

[43]  Rajesh Kumar,et al.  Differential Learning and Interaction in Alliance Dynamics: a Process and Outcome Discrepancy Model , 1998 .

[44]  Africa Ariño,et al.  Learning From Failure: Towards An Evolutionary Model of Collaborative Ventures , 1998 .

[45]  A. Ariño,et al.  Designing and renegotiating strategic alliance contracts , 2004 .

[46]  J. Pfeffer.  Barriers to the Advance of Organizational Science: Paradigm Development as a Dependent Variable , 1993 .

[47]  K. Starkey,et al.  Rethinking the Business School , 2004 .

[48]  D. Whetten.  What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution , 1989 .

[49]  Varghese P. George,et al.  Performance of alliances: formative stages and changing organizational and environmental influences , 1999 .

[50]  A. V. D. Ven.  SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDYING STRATEGY PROCESS: A RESEARCH NOTE , 1992 .