<span>A changing business environment with market consolidation and convergence is imposing new demands on organizations where old ways of doing business are fast becoming obsolete. Much of the resulting interconnectivity and interdependence in the environment is obscure to organizational business units. As such they are unable to select a viable course of action- forcing the organizations to reexamine their operational strategies both at the organization and business unit levels. Constant restructuring to maintain differentiation among business units and alignment with shifting market segments is simply infeasible and disruptive. This paper explores intra-organizational collaboration as an alternate means for developing business unit networks that are dynamically </span><span>differentiated and integrated to cope effectively with the demands of the changing business environment. A conceptual model of intra-organizational collaboration is described with potential variables identified. The research focuses at this stage is on evaluating and revising the conceptual model through qualitative methods. To this end, a set of research questions has been identified. Finally, the objective is to synthesize the insights gained from this study into a theory of collaborative advantage and a collaboration maturity model allowing organizations to access their collaboration capability, establish a vision of a desired maturity level to cope with the demands of the external environment, and develop systematic action plans to cover the gaps.Doctorate of Management Programs</span>
