The Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances
Open accessAbstract
This paper unpacks two underspecified facets of collaboration: cooperation and coordination. Prior research has emphasized cooperation, specifically partners' commitment and alignment of interests, as the key determinant of collaborative success. Scholars have paid less attention to the critical role of coordination—the effective alignment and adjustment of partners' actions. To redress this imbalance, we conceptually disentangle cooperation and coordination in the context of inter-organizational collaboration, and examine how the two phenomena play out in the partner selection, design, and post-formation stages of an alliance's life cycle. As we demonstrate, a coordination perspective helps resolve some empirical puzzles, but it also represents a challenge to received wisdom grounded in the salience of cooperation. To stimulate future research, we discuss alternative conceptualizations of the relationship between cooperation and coordination, and elaborate on their normative implications.
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Gulati et al. (2012) definitions of coordination and cooperation, studied in alliances only, partially overlap because both refer to actions-pursuit or alignment and adjustment-taken for the attainment of common goals.
“Gulati and colleagues' (2012) definitions of coordination and cooperation (studied in the context of alliances only) partially overlap in that the two concepts refer to actions-pursuit or alignment and adjustment-taken for the attainment of common goals.”
From Collaboration, Coordination, and Cooperation Among Organizations: Establishing the Distinctive Meanings of These Terms Through a Systematic Literature Review (2020) · cites this paper as Gulati et al., 2012
Collaboration is not the mere sum of coordination and cooperation; it refers to a distinctive, different phenomenon.
“Our review-based redefinition of collaboration provides a cautionary note with regard to Gulati and colleagues' (2012) notion that collaboration is the mere sum of coordination and cooperation.Instead, our review indicates that collaboration refers to a distinctive, different phenomenon, thereby lending discriminant validity to the collaboration concept relative to the concepts of coordination and”
From Collaboration, Coordination, and Cooperation Among Organizations: Establishing the Distinctive Meanings of These Terms Through a Systematic Literature Review (2020) · cites this paper as Gulati et al., 2012
Prior attempts at conceptual clarification by Gulati et al. (2012) and Kretschmer and Vanneste (2017) have not fully achieved discriminant validity.
“Prior attempts at conceptual clarification (Gulati et al., 2012;Kretschmer & Vanneste, 2017) have not fully achieved discriminant validity.”
From Collaboration, Coordination, and Cooperation Among Organizations: Establishing the Distinctive Meanings of These Terms Through a Systematic Literature Review (2020) · cites this paper as Gulati et al., 2012
The review findings indicate that caution is needed about treating collaboration as the sum of coordination and cooperation.
“Second, our review findings showed the need for caution about the treatment of collaboration as the sum of coordination and cooperation (Gulati et al., 2012).”
From Collaboration, Coordination, and Cooperation Among Organizations: Establishing the Distinctive Meanings of These Terms Through a Systematic Literature Review (2020) · cites this paper as Gulati et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Gulati, R., Wohlgezogen, F., & Zhelyazkov, P.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- Venue
- Academy of Management Annals
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 2012-06
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 531-583
- ISSN
- 1941-6067 (ISSN-L)
- 1941-6520
- OpenAlex
- W4235080863
- Cited by
- 768
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 59 · 2025: 90 · 2024: 68 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 92 · 2021: 71 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 63.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- nrs.harvard.edu
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Academy of Management Annals (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Rare & Special e-Zone (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Archivio istituzionale della Ricerca - Bocconi (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Business Strategy and Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management Information Systems › Outsourcing and Supply Chain Management
- Keywords
- strategic alliances, inter-organizational collaboration, cooperation, coordination, mate choice, alliance design, partner commitment, interest alignment, alliance success
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