Purpose – This paper aims to focus on formation motivations and processes of R&D consortia to appreciate their differential innovative and learning capabilities. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents its argument in two separate steps. First, a two‐by‐two framework, comprising...

Purpose – Further understanding of structural hierarchy is critically needed to assess the usefulness of different alliance structures. This study goes beyond transaction cost reasoning and incorporates social exchange theoretic perspective with the aim of capturing the concurrent...

Many western firms are trying to conduct business in the People's Republic of China, and one of the prevalent approaches has been through the formation of international joint ventures (IJVs). While extant literature suggests that firms should focus on developing <italic>guanxi</italic> (that is, a form of...