CHP-Belduco is a Combined Heat and Power plant, which was built on the site of Belchem, a chemical company in Flanders, Belgium. The purpose of the plant is to deliver steam and other utilities to the chemical plants on the site. In order to do that efficiently, the combination of heat and electricity is used. The plant is owned and managed by Duteng, a Dutch energy production company, but operated by employees of the client (Belchem). The CHP plant consists of newly built equipment, like turbines, heat recovery steam generators, and water treatment units, combined with existing equipment, like boilers and pumps of considerable age. This equipment is integrated in the utility grids of an extensive chemical site with numerous users of the utilities. A considerable amount of agreements is used to capture all the arrangements regarding building rights, hired services and back and forth delivery of fuels, auxiliary materials, and utilities. The reliability of steam supply of CHP-Belduco, which is very important for the client, turned out to be far below expectations and contractual agreements. The cooperation between the two companies is difficult and they are blaming each other for the unsatisfactory performance. The opinions of Belchem and Duteng, regarding how an installation is to be operated and which training and instructions are required, are far apart. In order to find causes and solution orientations for the problems at CHPBelduco, this case was studied from the perspective of organizational structures and cultures. The organizational structures of Belchem and Duteng were analysed, using the theory of Henry Mintzberg. The most salient difference was identified between the coordination mechanisms of the two companies. The main coordination mechanism within Belchem is standardization of work processes, while within Duteng it is standardization of skills. In order to study the organizational cultures the theory of Edgar Schein was used. A number of Duteng employees, which worked at CHPBelduco and cooperated with Belchem employees, was interviewed. The interview results were used to identify differences between the organizational cultures of both companies. The identified differences were compared to the differences in the national cultures of Belgium and the Netherlands. For this comparison the theory of Geert Hofstede is used. As part of his research, he identified a number of cultural dimensions. A large number of differences between the cultures of Belchem and Duteng could be explained by differences between the cultures of Belgium and the Netherlands. These differences were mainly in the cultural dimensions power distance and uncertainty avoidance, which both score significantly higher in Belgium (and Belchem) than in the Netherlands (and Duteng). Causes of the cooperation problems were found by using the theory of Hofstede. The research showed that CHP-Belduco was organized in a way that did not fit the way of working and culture of Belchem. On top of that Belchem and Duteng insufficiently recognize the differences between each other’s cultures, which leads to incomprehension and friction. For finding causes of reliability problems the ‘Normal Accident Theory’ is used. This theory, developed by Charles Perrow, explains why accidents happen and relates reliability to issues of organizational structure and culture. This research showed that Duteng does insufficiently show the importance of reliable steam supply and that the inexperienced operators were trained in an ineffective way. Furthermore, Duteng has next to no direct influence on the operators. The ‘High Reliability Theory’, which studies why ‘high reliability organizations’ manage to sustain high records of reliability, is used to help identify solution orientations. Like the ‘Normal Accident Theory’ this theory also relates reliability to issues of organizational structure and culture. The identified solution orientations regard a number of aspects, like: more autonomy for Belchem in operating the plant; training for operators that better fits their way of learning and which is more focussed on worst case scenarios; better fitting of the skills and knowledge of employees to the role they should perform in the chosen structure; better scoping of maintenance; and improving the technical integrity of the plant. The results of this research have led to the conclusion that cultural differences, and the way they are handled, are major causes for the problems under study. Changing the contractual structure in such a way that Duteng manages all aspects of CHPBelduco, including operations, seems to be a good solution. Due to the implications this solutions brings along, it might not be feasible. Without changing the contractual structure, the cooperation within and the reliability of CHP-Belduco can be improved if both partners take the cultural differences more into account. More understanding of and respect for each others way of working will reduce mistrust and can open doors to a more constructive way of cooperation. Furthermore, aligning the skills of staff members with their role in the chosen way of working is expected to improve the performance of the plant. It was also concluded that the research method, developed in this research, can be used for a number of cross-border organizations for which reliability of technology is important. Furthermore, this research method can be applied before entering a crossborder alliance, merger, or acquisition in order to reduce cooperation and reliability problems, due to cultural differences, up front.