The current co-operative strategy literature places heavy emphasis on bilateral co-operation: to take just three examples, joint ventures, partnerships and strategic alliances. Industry wide co-operation however has received less attention. In addition, there has been little research devoted to the formation of such alliances. Therefore this research attempts to discover more about this type of cooperation and how it is encapsulated into formal structures. Empirical research was conducted on industry wide cooperation among Irish companies. The methodology chosen was inductive and exploratory. In total, three major and a number of minor case studies were completed. Comparative analysis indicates that there are a number of precisely definable stages through which such industry-wide co-operation will proceed before it formalises or crystallises. It also highlights a number of factors that drive co-operation from one stage to the next. The most important of these are non-economic. It further suggests that the reason for initial industry wide co-operation may differ from the reasons which sustains the co-operation. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.