Societies and economies are continuously transformed by the creation, integration and exploitation of new knowledge. In delivering new knowledge intensive products, there is a key question of how firms should organize to achieve success. New organizational forms have arisen, particularly the knowledge based organizational network which links smaller firms with each other and with much larger enterprises and institutions. At the heart of this network is a form of alliance referred to as a knowledge based alliance. A study of knowledge based alliances provides for an appreciation of these new organizational forms, as well as providing an opportunity to test the validity of the knowledge based theory of the firm. UK therapeutic biotechnology firms are used as examples.