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. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.