ABSTRACT
Collaboration excites the attention of analysts and theoreticians from a wide range of disciplines. Essentially this is because it is something which does not fit into well-established knowledge and theories of the firm, or of markets. A number of different analyses are included under each of the four headings. Demarcation between the various approaches is occasionally arbitrary, as the analyses often overlap. The transaction costs economics approach in analysing collaboration is most closely associated with Williamson. For Williamson, transactions are the basic element of analysis of all economic institutions and, to a great extent, efforts to economize on transaction costs determine organizational behavior. The primary ascribed motive for learning through collaboration is to deal with technological and market uncertainty. Mody describes learning as a particularly strong motive for forming and sustaining alliances: 'The purpose of the alliance is to discover whether complementary capabilities make sense from a technological and/or market perspective'.
