This text provides an exploration of business alliances, and show how collaboration has become part of the fabric of modern competition. It argues that alliances give companies greater flexibility in the marketplace, and strengthen their competitiveness.

Yet the very spread of alliances increases their costs and poses new limits on their use. Gomes-Casseres concludes that firms need to manage their constellations to enchance collaboration within their groups, while raising what he calls "barriers to collaboration" for rivals. These ideas are developed and illustrated through case studies of alliances among US, Japanese and European firms in electronics and computers, including Xerox, IBM and Fujitsu as well as other small and large companies. The book should be of interest to business academics, managers and general readers concerned with contemporary capitalism.