The staffing of decision-making channels also allows us to distinguish the degree of horizon- tal centralization in the alliance, that is, the number of actors involved in a given decision-making channel. A low level of horizontal centralization would involve multiple representatives from each partner in established decision-making channels. A medium level of horizontal centraliza- tion could, for example, comprise one manager from each partner. High horizontal centralization would grant the authority to make strategic choices on behalf of all partners to a single manager. This is usually the case in JV arrangements, where specific decision-making domains are assigned to individual JV managers (e.g., the JV’s CEO, CFO, CTO, etc.) rather than committees of parent firms’representatives. But such concentration of decision-making authority also occurs in purely contractual alliances that follow a “trading” logic, that is, where partners bring together complementary competences: In those cases the partner organization that has most competences or experience in a particular domain may have decision authority over that domain. In the previ- ously described Renault–Nissan alliance each company leads the alliance’s new engine design efforts and orchestrates alliance resources for their respective area of expertise—Renault for diesel and Nissan for gasoline engines.23 Horizontal decentralization essentially allows alliance partners to make alliance-related planning and resource allocation decisions independently. Aldrich and Sasaki (1995) identify such decentralized arrangements as typical for Japanese research consortia, where partners shun the establishment of joint R&D facilities and instead fully decentralize research projects to member organizations and simply share results and benefits at the end.