258 Open innovation in the food and beverage industryat reducing costs and risks through economies of scale and rationalized innovation processes, similar resources should be pooled. However, if partners aim at manag- ing technological convergence or interdependence among innovation processes, they are likely to combine complementary resources (Miotti and Sachwald, 2003).According to Emden et al. (2006) strategic alignment refers to the degree of motivation and goal correspondence. Although the motivations of each partner may differ, they need to correspond in order to indicate whether partners have mutually beneficial intentions. Furthermore, such an alignment reduces the likeli- hood that the partners act opportunistically in the partnership. Finally, to reach relational alignment, firms should look for partners that have a compatible culture or fit organizationally, are willing to adapt in line with the requirements for collaboration change, and have a long-term orientation (Emden et al., 2006; Saxton, 1997; Shah and Swaminathan, 2008). The latter has also been referred to as commitment and, as with trust, reduces the risk of opportunism (Shah and Swaminathan, 2008).