Steve Cropper is Professor of Management in the Centre for Health Planning and Management and Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Management at Keele University. He was convenor for two years of the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group on Inter-organizational Relations. His researchinterests focus on the initiation, stabilization, and sustainability of partnerships for community health and health services development and these are reflected in long-term projects with policy-makers and practitioners. Recent publications and current research focus specifically on community regeneration partnerships and the networked organization of health services for children and young people.

Peter Smith Ring is Professor of Strategic Management in the College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University, and an International visiting fellow of the ESRC/EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management Research. He gained his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Management in the University of California, Irvine, following a career in the law. He was awarded an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; an LLB from the Georgetown University Law Center, and an AB (cum laude) from St Anselm College. He was Ford Foundation Police Legal Advisor Fellow at Northwestern University's School of Law from 1996 to 1998. His research focuses on the governance structures and developmental processes of networks and strategic alliances; the roles of trust in transaction processes; contract as an organizational trope; the strategic behaviour of multinational firms; and comparative management processes of the public and private sectors.

Chris Huxham is Professor of Management in the University of Strathclyde Business School and a senior fellow of the ESRC/EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management Research. She has, for over 17 years, led an action research programme concerned with the development of practice-oriented theory—the Theory of Collaborative Advantage—relating to the management of collaborative ventures. She has co-received three awards from the Academy of Management for aspects of this. Chris is Chair of the British Academy of Management and was Initiating Convenor of its Special Interest Group on Interorganizational Relations. She regularly works with managers engaged in collaborative initiatives.

Mark Ebers is Professor of Business Administration, Corporate Development, and Organization at Cologne University, Germany. Previously, he served on the faculties of Augsburg University and Paderborn University. He has been a visiting professor at Tilburg University, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, and Bocconi University, International Visiting Fellow of the ESRC/EPSRC Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) at Strathclyde University, and John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at Harvard University. He received both his Doctorate in Business Administration and his Habilitation from Mannheim University, Germany. His research focuses on the governance and outcomes of Inter-organizational relations.