The low level of formality and the diversity of international alliances create an
important challenge for researchers. Unlike mergers and acquisitions, alliances include
various types of cooperation agreements between organizations and do not require
formal registration. Therefore, in this field, secondary data is scarce and the few
available international databases present several disadvantages. This manuscript
attempts to discuss and assess options available to circumvent difficulties in database choice and usage for primary data collection. Results from an alliance survey show that the use of national databases and informal solutions, such as local knowledge and local networking can be valid options
