What is Inter-organizational Collaboration

In this chapter we argue that even though conflict has been explored at an intra-organizational level, its effect and role at an inter-organizational level has remained unexplored. Yet, with the increasing number of virtual inter-organizational alliances, attention needs to be given on this issue. This chapter, hence, discusses the factors that contribute to different types of conflicts at an inter-organizational level, which are named as business strategic conflict and cultural conflict. More significantly, two conceptual frameworks of tendencies of business strategic conflict and cultural conflict are illustrated for understanding the course of global virtual alliances. The frameworks are designed to be a foundation of future empirical research. The ethical implications of doing such research are discussed.