Interorganizational Collaboration in Healthcare ( Langabeer ) 1 Interorganizational Collaboration in Healthcare

Interorganizational theories of management contend that collaboration and interdependencies between organizations can lead to distinct competitive advantages. Yet, this theory is largely rooted in the consumer goods industry (not healthcare) and has been examined primarily from the advantages provided to individual firms (not the community as a whole). In this research, we will explore the nature of collaboration between organizations in healthcare, and specifically examine evidence from the field of cardiovascular care on community outcomes emerging from a large-scale interorganizational collaboration. We present data on resulting from a six-year collaboration around the Dallas metropolitan area, which has yielded significant improvements in key outcomes for the community. We will generalize these findings to provide recommendations for interorganizational collaborations elsewhere in the healthcare industry. Background Organizations collaborate in a variety of structural ways, including strategic alliances, joint ventures, and other less formal partnerships. Management theories about interorganizational collaboration tend to focus on the resulting competitive advantages which these relationships will produce, primarily for