The international business field has long been dominated by economists and scholars originating from functional business disciplines. Yet the phenomena that we are studying are also of interest to other social sciences, such as sociology or even philosophy. A different disciplinary perspective may shed new light on core issues in international business.

One such core issue are strategic alliances. Economic and managerial perspectives of alliances have recently been brought together by Farok Contractor and Peter Lorange in Cooperative Strategies and Alliances, reviewed in JIBS no. 5/2003. A complementary, sociological perspective is offered by Mark De Rond's study on Strategic Alliances as Social Facts: Business, Biotechnology and Intellectual History. He focuses on social processes surrounding the establishment of alliances, which might explain why alliances are popular despite often disappointing performance. Does he succeed in broadening the research agenda?