Building and Using the Theory of Collaborative Advantage

In this chapter, we introduce the Theory of Collaborative Advantage—a practice-based theory about the management of collaborations, which focuses on the potential for collaborative advantage arising out of interorganizational partnerships. We start with a brief introduction on how the theory is built, how it is structured, and what its purpose is. We then provide some conceptual examples that aim to illustrate the theory’s contribution to knowledge, both theoretical and practical, about the management of collaboration in practice.