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context of social, public-private sector partnerships was that conducted by Waddock and
Bannister (1991) who concluded that effectiveness was ultimately determined by: participant
trust; adequate fl exibility and power to make decisions; inclusion of key participants in the
collaboration; fair and equitable distribution of benefi ts; recognition of interdependency; balance
of power; clarifi cation of objectives; clarity of vision; and strong leadership. As with personal
relationships, fi nding suitably like-minded partners is a particularly noteworthy contributor to
collaboration effectiveness, while the role of convenor is widely regarded as an underestimated
variable in the equation. The role of the convenor is critical to success with the convenor
requiring a high degree of empathy with the collaborative domain, credibility among all partners
as well as the ability to stay neutral and not take sides, an ability to fi lter out the essential and
non-essential items of collaborative arrangements and to manage expectations. Clearly patience
is a virtue for such a role while the ability to bring all parties together in a constructive and
forward-looking manner is critical.
International airline alliances - a collaborative success story?
From humble resource-based 'codesharing' beginnings in the early 1960s, where two or more
airlines agreed to use the same designator code (fl ight number) for connecting services and so
benefi t from an extension of their respective networks, the three largest international airline
alliances today together employ just under 1.2 million people, operate nearly 40,000 daily fl ights
and span the global through an extensive truly-global route network. With most of the major
international airlines now members of either Oneworld, Star Alliance or Sky Team, only those
airlines that have considerable resources at their disposal such as Emirates, Etihad or Qatar, or
those that differentiate themselves through splendid isolation, such as Virgin, are able to survive
outside of the 'big three' multi-product international airline alliances (Tiernan
et al
. 2008). With
so much market turbulence over the past decade commencing with the aviation aftermath of
9/11 in the USA, many airlines which otherwise might not have survived have developed and
grown as a result of their collaborative membership of alliances. Zhang and Zhang (2006), for
example, stress that alliance members are able to maximize their own profi t as at the same time
expand the share of its partner's profi t, a successful outcome from their resource-based origins.
Although reasons for joining vary slightly the majority of airlines have joined one of the 'big
three' alliances as a means to access global markets which, in turn, confers on them a signifi cant
market advantage. Iatrou and Alamdari (2005: 128), for example, stress that a strategic alliance is
one involving 'strategic commitment by top management to link up a substantial part of their
respective route networks as well as collaborating on some key areas of airline business'.
Collaborating airlines are thus sharing resources, including brand assets and market access
capability as a means to expand their market reach and networks, strengthen their market
positioning, reduce costs, benefi t from economies of scale and scope which in turn increases
productivity and profi tability. Although there is some dispute as to what transaction costs really
are saved due to the complexity of alliance formation, most airlines remain confi dent that the
benefi ts outweigh costs with considerable opportunity for organizational learning a key benefi t
(Inkpen 1995).
With the exponential growth of low-cost airlines in North America, Europe and Asia,
international airline alliances also serve as highly effective means of product differentiation for
traditional 'fl ag-carrier' airlines due to the aggressive price-competitive nature of domestic
markets where low-cost carriers increasingly dominate with their particularly strong regional
airport presence. One aspect of international airline alliances that remains inconclusive, however,
is their ability to improve product quality and customer service with a number of inconsistencies
