ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by explaining what is meant by a co-evolutionary view on alliances, as well as why, when and how alliance co-evolution occurs. The idea of co-evolution is rooted in the tradition of population ecology and evolutionary theory, and refers to the simultaneous development of organizations and their environment, both independently and interactively. The alliance studies that examined alliance co-evolution did identify drivers of alliance co-evolution operating at three levels of analysis: the alliance, the partner organizations and the alliance environment. Changes in the alliance environment may also require partners to adapt alliance design and management, and to renew the conditions under which the collaboration takes place. To provide some insights into alliance co-evolution and the governance of a single alliance, the insights are applied to the alliance development framework. The chapter concludes with a summary and a case illustration.
