INTERCOMPANY COOPERATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS - LEADING COMPANIES AND NETWORKS OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

Strategic alliances, joint ventures and a wide array of cooperative R&D pacts have received considerable attention in recent years. In this paper an attempt is made to understand not only some recent trends in inter-firm cooperation in information technologies but also to reveal the role played by a large group of companies. The research is based on a large databank with information on thousands of alliances and their participating companies. Applying a number of statistical techniques it is possible to identify the major players within information technology and its sub-fields. The analysis enables us to recognize the major international networks of inter-firm alliances, the changes over time and different positions taken by world leading companies in several industrial and technological settings.