Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2012
  • Article
  • Academy of Management Annals

The Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances

By: Ranjay Gulati, Franz Wohlgezogen and Pavel Zhelyazkov
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

This paper unpacks two underspecified facets of collaboration: cooperation and coordination. Prior research has emphasized cooperation, and specifically the 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 the 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.

Keywords

Alliances; Social and Collaborative Networks; Cooperation

Citation

Gulati, Ranjay, Franz Wohlgezogen, and Pavel Zhelyazkov. "The Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances." Academy of Management Annals 6 (2012): 531–583.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Ranjay Gulati

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    First to Fight? Culture, Tradition and the United States Marine Corps (USMC)

    By: Ranjay Gulati, Akhil Iyer and Joel Malkin
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Veeva Systems and the Transformation to a Public Benefit Corporation

    By: Ranjay Gulati and Allison M. Ciechanover
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Nick Saban: Embracing 'The Process' of Sustaining Success

    By: Ranjay Gulati and Eppa Rixey
More from the Authors
  • First to Fight? Culture, Tradition and the United States Marine Corps (USMC) By: Ranjay Gulati, Akhil Iyer and Joel Malkin
  • Veeva Systems and the Transformation to a Public Benefit Corporation By: Ranjay Gulati and Allison M. Ciechanover
  • Nick Saban: Embracing 'The Process' of Sustaining Success By: Ranjay Gulati and Eppa Rixey
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College