Researching on international alliances – the problem of lack of sources

Abstract

The low level of formality and the diversity of international alliances create an important challenge for researchers. Unlike mergers and acquisitions, alliances include various types of cooperation agreements between organizations and do not require formal registration. Therefore, in this field, secondary data is scarce and the few available international databases present several disadvantages. This manuscript attempts to discuss and assess options available to circumvent difficulties in database choice and usage for primary data collection. Results from an alliance survey show that the use of national databases and informal solutions, such as local knowledge and local networking can be valid options.