Alliances

Abstract

An alliance is a unified effort involving two or more organizations to achieve common goals with respect to a particular strategic issue. The concept of alliance has been used in a variety of contexts with definitions generally being disciplinary bound. Theoretical and empirical research into alliances has had extensive interdisciplinary appeal, and the study of alliances has been conducted in a multitude of disciplines including sociology, economics, political science, law, strategic management, and organizational behavior. The word alliance has a set of meanings, such as an agreement establishing an association or alliance between organizations to achieve a particular aim, a coalition being an organization of businesses involved in a pact, and a bond being a connectidn based on common interest, to name a few. But an alliance has a number of defining features