Challenging the current flood of mergers and acquisitions this book presents an alternative, more efficient strategy of inter-firm alliances. In the context of recent developments in international business, the discussion takes in alliances between buyers and suppliers, between competitors and between firms in different industries. This theory is illustrated and elaborated with empirical detail from a variety of international case-studies. These studies include the car industry in the US, Europe and Japan, the Dutch photocopier industry and ten European electronic suppliers ... Inter-firm Alliances combines resource-based views, transaction-cost analysis and institutional economics to develop an original and comprehensive theory of inter-firm alliances and a coherent method for managing them.