Introduction

This introductory chapter presents the aims and scope of this book, outlines its content, indicates its special features and discusses some of the basic concepts used. First, it indicates the questions dealt with in this book, in subsequent chapters: why should one collaborate (goals), in what form of organization and network (structure), how (governance) and how does collaboration develop (process). Second, this chapter indicates the scope of the book, in terms of themes, perspectives and disciplines used. The book analyses bilateral relationships

as well as networks in which they are embedded. It lays an emphasis on dynamics: learning and innovation as a goal of inter-organizational relationships (IORs), and the development of relationships and networks. It aims to give a comprehensive treatment, integrating a variety of perspectives and disciplines. In particular, it integrates perspectives of competence (especially competence development, learning) and governance (how to manage relations, in particular ‘relational risk’). This chapter briefly indicates what elements are used from what disciplines: economics, sociology, social psychology, business studies, geography and cognitive science. Subsequently it discusses some of the basic notions to be used: competence, knowledge, decision heuristics (taken from social psychology), organizations and institutions, governance and some features of cognition and knowledge transfer. In the advanced section (p. 26), it further discusses the notion of ‘optimal cognitive distance’, empirical tests of that, some evolutionary origins of cognition, the notion of ‘co-evolution’, the methodological stance of ‘methodological interactionism’ and the problem of ‘incommensurable paradigms’.