Abstract
How can unacquainted organizations generate cooperative behavior? We address this question in a case study of the process that leads to a strategic alliance between French and Japanese auto-makers Renault and Nissan - two organizations with no prior basis for a core of cooperative behavior to exist. Analyzed in the spirit of theory development, the case study turns on inter-individual processes and time. The data lead us to a gift-theoretical interpretation. Building upon the fundamental anthropological idea of gift / contra-gift (Mauss, 1925/1990) to describe cooperative behaviors between unacquainted individuals, we articulate how different types of gifts and the pace of reciprocal giving are employed to generate cooperative behavior over time. Critically for practical relevance and theoretical scope, the gift-theoretical approach developed does not impose linearity: the generation of cooperative behavior can be routinized, escalated, or even reversed. To the literature on cooperation in inter-organizational relationships, we offer an interpretative framework for further theoretical elaboration and empirical testing. To the literature on strategic alliances, we present the groundwork for bringing the "beginning back in" to the study of how partnerships evolve.