International vertical alliances within the international business field : A systematic literature review and future research agenda

International vertical alliances (IVAs) have garnered increasing scholarly interest in the strategy and international business (IB) literature. Our review of 111 papers published in major IB journals from 2000 to 2020 sheds light on the antecedents, key mediators, moderators and outcomes of IVAs. To generate insights, we juxtaposed forward and backward alliances and compared IVAs with their domestic vertical and horizontal counterparts. In this paper, we highlight key areas for future IVA research, including—but not limited to—broadening the scope of the investigation in order to integrate new theories and methods suited to examine such alliances in the IB field.