Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to present the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration from the strategic perspective, as a complex phenomenon, infl uenced by environmental factors, such as institutions – both formal and informal. Additional aims of the paper are: to present a model including all signifi cant elements
and identifying important research gaps.

Methodology: The paper presents the results of literature analyses as well as the fi ndings of the latest research studies in the fi eld of interorganizational collaboration, taking into account the environment of the organization.

Conclusions: The external environment of the organization, in particular socio-cultural factors, has a significant impact on the formation, development, evolution and management of interorganizational collaboration. There are still many research gaps in this fi eld, and some of them have been presented in this paper.

Research limitations: This paper is a theoretical and conceptual study. It forms an introduction to further empirical research.

Originality: The paper presents the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration in a broader context, taking into account the external environment as an element infl uencing such collaboration. Most of the works in this field focus on organizations managing or coping with the environment. This paper presents a different approach. It indicates the external factors that infl uence interorganizational collaboration from a strategic perspective, and subsequently presents them in the form of a model.