Abstract
Many alliances fail because they are not guided by the strategic goal of the partners involved. As companies such as Sun Microsystems, Corning Glass and Intel have shown, alliances should not be seen as an end in itself but as a means toward a strategic ambition. What matters most in these alliances is the strategy behind the partnership and not the deal itself. There are four elements in a coherent alliance strategy. They are an underlying business strategy that molds the logic behind and the design of alliances, a dynamic perspective that steers the management and transformation of alliances, a portfolio approach that facilitates organization of alliances and improves flexibility, and an internal infrastructure that optimizes the value of external collaboration. These elements shape the success of firms in using alliances.