The research portrayed in this Doctoral Dissertation was designed to search an answer for the following problem: What factors and dimensions should the executives take into consideration on their decisions regarding the strategic implications related to the virtualization of strategic alliances and networks? Since the study`s object of analysis was a new phenomenon in the business environment that does not yet have an accepted theoretical tradition in the academic world, the research was, necessarily, an exploratory one. The methodology applied was post-positivist, using simultaneously the hypotheticdeductive and inductive methods. Based on the literature investigated, a working framework was developed containing the aspects regarding the virtualization of the relationships with business partners: the virtualization drivers and attributes, and a typology of virtual strategic networks (VSNs). This framework was previously tested in two pilot cases studies: Neoris and GM- Fiat WWP. After the necessary adjustments on the data collections instruments, the framework was applied on the other three research case studies: Construtora Norberto Odebrecht, Telemar e AmBev. On the subsequent research steps, multiple methods were adopted for the data collection. The results obtained by way of the case studies showed that, indeed, the working framework had the potential to contribute with subsidies for the strategic decisions involved, not only in the identification, but mainly in the creation of conditions that influence a more effective participation of firms on the different types of VSNs.