An analysis of cooperative agreements from a knowledgebased perspective an integrative conceptual framework

The last decade has been witness to an unprecedented growth in the number of alliances between companies. This growing importance of interfirm cooperation, together with its inherent complexity, have generated a progressive interest in the study of this phenomenon, which has materialised in a vast but fragmented literature concerning it. As a response to the demands which these conditions pose, we have endeavoured to develop a conceptual framework which, from a knowledgebased and learning perspective, integrates an extensive series of contributions and concepts for the study of the processes of cooperation between companies. As distinctive features, our conceptual framework proposal sets up a bridge between formulation and implementation in alliance processes and goes into the alliance microlevel processes, both in the framework of the cooperative agreement and in the setting of the partners organisations. Additionally, our proposal also considers the different ontological levels where knowledge develops and the links existing between them.