A note on international market leaders and networks of strategic technology partnering

Interfirm partnering has become a familiar aspect of corporate behavior as it is found in a large number of industries with many Companies participating in strategic alliances. This paper focuses on questions that are related to market structural issues of this phenomenon in an international context. It raises the question whether alliances establish stable networks of firms, and whether market leading firms dominate the world of strategic partnering. Our contribution stresses the need for a further understanding of cooperative behavior in terms of the increase of corporate flexibility and the extension of core competences of companies.