This article resulted of an empirical research, which was developed in a company that operates in the metal-mechanical sector in South of Brazil - Passo Fundo city. The central question was investigate "what is the pertinence of forming international strategic alliances by this firm, considering its style of operation in the market, its institutional context of reference and, the congruence of its objective with this kind of strategy?". The specific objectives were to analysis the firm's characteristics, to characterize the institutional context and, to establish a relationship among context, institutional characteristics and, political of alliances. The theoretical framework seeks to conciliate both subsocialized and undersocialized views (Granovetter, 1985; Roberts; Greenwood, 1997). It seeks to stress the economic motivation to form the partnership as well the institutional explanation to the formation of strategic alliances. It was employed the concepts of normative, coercive and, mimetic institutional pressures (DiMaggio; Powell, 1991; Haunschild, 1993). It was noticed that economic, social and, political issues interact for determining the managers´ choices of formation of cooperative strategy.