Inter-organizational relations and practices – formal and informal – seem to be everywhere; and the tasks of description, explanation and ‘prescription’ of inter-organizational arrangements and their attributes have become important scholarly challenges. Turning the spotlight on this profoundly engaging topic, this five-volume set brings together articles from internationally-renowned scholars, seeking to address the various questions that have arisen; the forms of analysis that have developed in the field; the accumulation of theoretical and empirical knowledge about IOR; the continuing debates; and to offer suggestions about the next generation of research.

Overseen by an international team of editors who provide a map of the field through a new comprehensive introduction, this work will be of interest to scholars across a wide range of disciplines, and is structured ...

Editors' Introduction: Inter-Organizational Relations

SteveCropper, MarkEbers and PeterSmithRing

1 Introduction

Inter-organizational relations (IOR) and practices – formal and informal – can be found everywhere. The tasks of description, explanation and “prescription” of inter-organizational arrangements, and their attributes, have become important scholarly challenges and have produced an ever-expanding body of research that has both theoretical and practical significance. The trajectory of development of research into IOR that we have sought to reflect in this five-volume set could be characterized in a number of ways. A case could be made that knowledge about IOR has grown rather wildly so that it now appears to be jungle-like, with no clear borders. In it, many different beasts, living by different rules, compete fiercely for survival and may find their particular niche. ...

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