Foreword

Alliance networks are increasingly important strategic weapons available to firms in their attempts to gain competitive advantages. Therefore, the management of alliance networks should occupy a preeminent position on the agenda of both academics and practitioners in the strategy field. Our knowledge of alliance network management is still underdeveloped, however, and research efforts that shed light on them are particularly welcomed. Sroka and Hittmar contribute in such a direction with their book that, while building on the extant scholarly literature on strategic alliances and interorganizational networks, is primarily aimed at offering to practicing managers insights on the alliance network management process. In the following, I will briefly frame alliance network management in the context of the strategy debate over the last decades. I will argue that exploring alliance network management and related (inter)organizational processes and capabilities has the potential to, on the one hand, allow firms to deal more effectively with network-based forms of competition, while, on the other hand, adding to our understanding of the sources of firm heterogeneity and competitive advantage, thus generating significant implications for strategy theorists and practitioners alike.