Partnering to explore: The Renault-Nissan Alliance as a forerunner of new cooperative patterns

While inter-firm cooperation is expected to pave the way for new innovative business opportunities, it has proved to be highly risky and difficult. This article analyses the emergence of the Renault-Nissan Alliance through the cooperative development of the first joint platform. In such collaborations, the relationships are as precarious as the potential synergies are uncertain. We argue that the building of a new collective identity requires specific managerial models to design simultaneously common purposes and collective identity. Several managerial implications are derived for inter-firm partnerships that aim at exploring new fields. But given the difficulties of managers, the paper also discusses possible legal implications and suggests a new type of contract, which would actually support the development of exploratory partnerships.