Hey Joe, I wouldn't lie that I have substantial knowledge on this subject, I however, came across this article: 

http://ezproxy.eastern.edu:3125/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=f7a925bf-224d-4b60-a84f-0be9970b8610%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4104

The literature is huge. Maybe you need to clarify further what particular issue you are going to investigate. A good review is "The Network Paradigm in Organizational Research: A Review and Typology" by Borgatti.

It depends a lot from what disciplinary angle you are looking at inter-organizational networks.

If you have access to scopus.com then go there and sort literature either from newest to oldest or, if you wish t find the most cited studies, then by the number of citations. Also, look at this: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v37/n5/full/8400219a.html

Please find below three relevant investigations related to the multinational companies, their expansion and global networks:

1. Hunya, G. (2012), The Role of Multinational Companies in International Business Integration, WIIW, Research Report 384, November.

2. Handbook of Emerging Market Multinational Corporations

Mehmet Demirbag, Attila Yaprak - 2015 - 304 pages

3. Rioux, M. (2014), Multinational Corporations in Transnational Networks: Theoretical and Regulatory Challenges in Historical Perspective. Open Journal of Political Science, 4, 109-117.

Best regards,

Monica

As mentioned, there has much work been done in the field. Some of the following reviews might help you going:

Gomes, Emanuel, Barnes, Bradley R. and Mahmood, Tehmina (2016) ‘A 22 year review of strategic alliance research in the leading management journals’, International Business Review 25(1, Part A), 15–27.

Cropper, Steve, Ebers, Mark, Huxham, Chris, et al. (2011) ‘Packing more punch? Developing the field of inter-organisational relations’, International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances 2(3), 153–170.

Borgatti, Stephen P. and Foster, Pacey C. (2003) ‘The Network Paradigm in Organizational Research: A Review and Typology’, Journal of Management 29(6), 991–1013.

Oliver, Amalya L. and Ebers, Mark (1998) ‘Networking Network Studies: An Analysis of Conceptual Configurations in the Study of Inter-organizational Relationships’, Organization Studies 19(4), 549–583.

Grandori, Anna and Soda, Giuseppe (1995) ‘Inter-firm Networks: Antecedents, Mechanisms and Forms’, Organization Studies 16(2), 183–214.

Thank you all for your prompt replies to my question.  Sorry I did not acknowledge your contributions earlier.  I elicited your responses because I was writing a term paper on airline alliances for an "introduction to business" class and I was then a novice user of our library's online databases.  Perhaps I did not have time to re-visit my post.  Since then, I have become a more experienced user of our online library resources, but it seems to me that the system still has its limits.  Of the online databases available in FSCJ's LLC archives, I have found Academic EBSCO Complete to be the most helpful, although ultimately I used Google to find a PDF of Laura Prota's recommended article.  I will start there, but review other suggestions as time permits.  Thank you all.