Abstract
Scholars have been studying inter-organizational collaboration for several decades. There is, for instance, a very rich literature on business-to-business (b2b) alliances in strategic management and an extensive literature on public-private partnerships (PPPs) in public management and policy. Surprisingly, these two literatures are relatively isolated from each other and scholars in these two fields seldom build on each other’s findings and insights. Yet understanding these differences and similarities is crucial to both sides of a PPP. Public and private managers have to work well with each other to make PPPs successful. Accordingly, our current research examines the differences and similarities that exist between b2b alliances and PPPs, especially in terms of specific motivations and implementation challenges.