Developed-developing country interfirm collaborations: Finding the hidden leverage for success

Most studies in inter-firm collaborations or alliances have either focused on understanding the conditions that facilitate them or on their outcomes. Few studies have focussed on how to make them successful. The current paper intends to contribute to bridging this knowledge gap by focusing on how to make donor-facilitated alliances successful. It presents a model of successful developed-developing country donor assisted collaborations and applied it to Danish funded Private Sector Development (PSD) projects in Ghana. The paper argues that the performance of such alliances can be greatly enhanced through such factors as appraisal of partners and projects, technology upgrading, resourcing and capability building.