We examine how the learning, along several dimensions (environment, task, process, skills, goals), that takes place in strategic alliances between firms mediates between the initial conditions and the outcomes of these alliances. Through a longitudinal case study of two projects in one alliance, replicated and extended in another four projects in two alliances, a framework was developed to analyze the evolution of cooperation in strategic alliances. Successful alliance projects were highly evolutionary and went through a sequence of interactive cycles of learning, reevaluation and readjustment. Failing projects, conversely, were highly inertial, with little learning, or divergent learning between cognitive understanding and behavioral adjustment, or frustrated expectations. Although strategic alliances may be a special case of organizational learning, we believe analyzing the evolution of strategic alliances helps transcend too simple depictions of inertia and adaptation, in particular by suggesting that initial conditions may lead to a stable 'imprinting ' of fixed processes that make alliances highly inertial or to generative and evolutionary processes that make them highly adaptive, depending on how they are set.

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Research into network formation generally takes one of two approaches. Either it examines the outcomes of variations in the context and motives of the formation without examining the dynamics of the process, or it identifies the sequence of activities during the formation but does not examine variations within the formation. In this paper we complement both approaches by examining variations within the formation process and their consequences. We take an exploratory approach. Our analysis of survey data collected on the formation process of 53 R&D consortia reveals two distinct formation paths. The first involves emergent processes, developing from changes in the environment and a common interest and similar views among potential members. In the second, the process appears to be engineered—a triggering entity actively recruits potential members to join in the consortium. We conclude the paper with propositions on the importance of these formation types for the development of strategic networks. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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