The Unique Nature and Dynamics of Multiparty Alliances: Insights from Three Decades of Research

Multiparty alliances – i.e., collaborative arrangements among more than two organizations – have been gaining increasing relevance as a means to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Distinguishing themselves from widely studied dyadic alliances, they exhibit unique characteristics. However, current research on multiparty alliances has been largely fragmented, encompassing a diverse array of topics, levels of analysis, and theoretical perspectives. In order to gain a holistic and comprehensive understanding of the specific features of multiparty alliances, we conducted a systematic review of scholarly publications in leading management journals spanning over 30 years. We adopted the generic alliance lifecycle perspective to analyze and integrate 154 relevant articles. Our review finds that multiparty alliances display important qualitative differences in each of the three phases: the order of entry in the partner selection phase, the change of reciprocity in the alliance design phase, and faultlines in the post-formation implementation phase. Our analysis leads us to an integrative framework highlighting both the differences and the dynamic interactions among the three phases of a multiparty alliance. Our framework opens rich opportunities for future studies to deepen our understanding of multiparty alliances.