Introduction

Chapter 16 - Interorganizational Relationships, Strategic Alliances, and Networks: The Role of Communication Systems and Information Technologies
Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
by Gerry Gingrich (ed)
Idea Group Publishing 2003

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Interorganizational relationship (IOR) is an interdisciplinary research theme that has been approached from various fields such as economics, game theory, strategic management theory, and organization theory, etc. (Child and Faulkner, 1998). ^[1]

In particular, IOR has both competition and cooperation - and they are dynamically changeable in accordance with the situation; therefore, it is the theme of competitive strategy in competition and the theme of interorganizational networks (ION) in cooperation on the contrary. Thus IOR is the domain spread over both theories of corporate strategies and organization theory.

On the other hand, on ION, there is another approach from information network system researchers. This is the perspective of how the information network system has to be utilized in order to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of ION.

In this chapter, I will refer to the concepts and perspectives of IOR, strategic alliance as cooperative relationships, strategic alliance models based on core-competence, and ION as cooperative IOR. Then I will present models of ION as communication systems, and refer to issues about utilizations of IT in ION.

The objectives of this chapter are to discuss IOR and ION, both in the managerial standpoint and that of the information network system.

^[1]Child and Faulkner (1998) listed four categories of perspectives for IOR: economics, game theory, strategic-management theory, and organization theory. In addition, they broke economics down into market-power theory, transaction theory, agency theory, and increasing-return theory; and also broke organization theory down into resource dependence and organization of alliance.

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