The number of cross-national alliances has increased, thanks in part to improved information technology that allows better and faster communication. But companies need to understand how to learn about their partners- on both a business and cultural level. Cross-National Alliances and Interorganizational Learning NANETTE S. LEVINSON MINORU ASAHI T oday’s telecommunication and informa- tion technologies are increasingly spawn- ing both domestic and cross-national business alliances. These alliances range from short- term virtual corporations to long-term strate- gic partnerships. An example of a virtual cor- poration is the ATW Development Group, an alliance comprising ten individual utilities and Electric Software Products (ESP), which produces software for electric utilities. The group’s purpose is to develop systems for tracking and reporting sulfur dioxide al- lowances as required by the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency. (Sulfur dioxide is a component of acid rain.) The virtual corpora- tion structure allows ESP and the member utilities greater efficiency and speed, which fits the goal of developing a new product in the shortest possible time. An example of a more long-term strategic alliance is the New United Motor Manufacturing Company (NUMMI), formed by General Motors and Toyota. NUMMI, created in 1984, successful- ly introduced a new automobile production system into the U.S.; it continues as a model manufacturing organization with a stated long-term goal. Such business alliances can be found in 50 and across numerous industries and coun- tries. These partnering approaches match and respond to the uncertainties and com- plexities of today’s globalized business envi- ronment. They allow organizations both to collaborate and compete with one another. Sometimes, especially in information-inten- sive sectors, sets of organizations “partner” in order to map out new business territories, of- ten before such territories are commonly rec- ognized. These sets of organizations, linked through formal collaboration, dramatically transform existing knowledge transfer pat- terns. For example, before their alliance the ten electric utilities now linked through the ATW Group did not exchange information on a regular basis-either among themselves or with software developers-about how they might handle EPA requirements or track acid rain-related emissions. The virtual al- liance enabled the participants to create new links (both formal and informal) for sharing information and for communicating effec- tively in a timely manner. As for NUMMI, the strategic alliance enabled managers and workers from the U.S. and Japan to interact and share ideas more effectively, resulting in