Joint ventures (JVs) and alliances are important forms of inter‐organizational cooperation because they allow firms to achieve complex mutual tasks, otherwise impossible using simple arm's‐length contracts, but without actually acquiring one another. In light of recent trends in globalization, this feature of JVs and alliances is vital to multi‐national corporations (MNCs). These firms have complex operations, making simple arm's‐length contracts insufficient. MNCs are also very large, so that mergers and acquisitions and takeovers are extremely expensive. In this paper, we describe global trends in JVs and alliances for the period 1990 to 2000, utilizing the Thomson Financial SDC Platinum database. We survey the relevant literature on JVs and alliances, and provide a detailed description of the world of JVs and alliances as depicted by this database. We report a number of interesting facts regarding the forms and types of JVs and alliances, their industry and geographic distribution, and patterns of ownership.

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