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Strategic Inter-Organizational Cooperation in Complex Environments

Abstract Strategic management research is increasingly concerned with understanding processes of network governance in which mechanisms for building partnerships among a number of public agencies and non-governmental organizations are more important than ever. Drawing examples from Canada, the paper analyses the nature of inter-jurisdictional and inter-organizational collaboration in complex and dynamic environments, and their implications for the strategic pursuit of organizational goals. The premise of the discussion is that public managers often pursue organizational goals in the context of external environmental systems characterized by complexity and constant change. From this perspective, public agencies must often seek to maintain relatively stable alliances while anticipating and adapting to environmental change in the pursuit of their organization's goals. The two cases in the paper illustrate three critical elements of collaborative network governance: first, the vertical and horizontal inter-jurisdictional dimensions of joint policy action; second the multiplicity of lenses of interpretation among agents, including the perceptions and values of non-governmental stakeholders and the strategic outreach of public agencies to these groups; and third, it traces the various stages of evolving networks, highlighting the changes and adaptations characterizing the processes involved in joint policy actions.