Horizontal cooperation practices in internet-based higher education, computational logistics and telecommunications

Abstract

Globalization and advances in information and communication technologies have boosted the use of Horizontal Cooperation (HC) practices in many industry sectors. In the current international market, these ‘alliances’ become especially relevant for small and medium organizations, which are forced to compete with large-scale corporations. This paper analyzes benefits and challenges of HC practices in three service sectors that are critical for most developed and emerging countries: Internet-based higher education, computational logistics and transportation and telecommunication services. The paper discusses the role of HC to benefit from economies of scale and reduce costs, improve quality of service and become more environmentally friendly. Hence, by using HC firms not only increase their competitiveness and extend their markets but, in addition, they also promote social responsiveness actions.