Developing strategic alliances: A conceptual framework for successful co-operation

Due to dramatically increasing global competition and in the light of Europe '92, companies have to concentrate on their particular competitive advantages and on those business activities they know well. The market, however, asks for an ever increasing range of products and services. ‘System deals’ include — along with a product — attractive sideline services, like project management, system implementation or supply of related products. In many cases, entering these markets or achieving technological breakthroughs is only possible with a strong partner.These recent developments forced corporations to consider alternative company structures. The failure of many strategic alliances, however, has clearly shown that understanding the development process of the alliance is critical for success. Christoph Bronder and Rudolf Pritzl present a structured procedure for developing strategic alliances that outlines four critical phases: strategic decision for an alliance, alliance configuration, partner selection, and alliance management.     

10 Learning and Strategic Alliances

Abstract

Various researchers have suggested that an important explanatory factor for the growth in strategic alliances is that alliances provide a platform for organizational learning, giving firms access to the knowledge of their partners. The notion that alliances are a vehicle for learning is the basis for an important and cross-disciplinary stream of research. This chapter examines theoretical and empirical research in the alliance learning area. We have two central objectives. The first is to integrate a large body of research by examining the key research questions addressed. The second objective is to critically examine the existing research as the basis for establishing a research agenda. Although the alliance learning area has generated a substantial amount of research interest and spawned wide-ranging types of inquiry, many important and substantive managerial issues remain underexplored.     

知识嵌入性、知识流动与战略联盟结构升级的关系研究

知识嵌入性是知识经济时代战略联盟共享有限资源,推动产业结构升级的重要途径。为打开知识嵌入性与战略联盟结构升级关系的黑箱,以知识管理、战略创新及复杂网络等相关理论为基础,对知识嵌入性的构成维度予以划分。进一步地,设定知识嵌入性的构成维度为联盟结构升级的前置变量,引入知识流动作为中介变量,构建知识嵌入性、知识流动与战略联盟结构升级的概念模型。采用结构方程的研究方法,以长三角地区的战略联盟为研究对象,基于295份有效问卷进行实证检验。研究结果表明:基于知识嵌入的构成维度,知识互补性、知识兼容性、知识紧密度与知识协调度对战略联盟结构升级呈显著的正相关关系,知识流动分别在知识互补性、知识兼容性、知识紧密度、知识协调度与联盟结构升级的关系中起部分中介作用。研究明晰了知识嵌入性、知识流动与联盟结构升级的关系,解释了知识嵌入性对联盟结构升级的作用机理,为战略联盟的管理实践提供有益借鉴。     

Strategic technology alliance termination: An empirical investigation

There is growing consensus that overall alliance termination rates are high. However, despite this track record of termination and despite unsurpassed growth rates of strategic technology alliances, little is known about the reasons for their termination. Typically strategic alliances have been characterized as inherently instable, i.e. often involving unplanned and premature termination of the alliance by partnering firms indicating alliance failure. The literature on strategic technology alliances, however, proposes that alliance termination does not always indicate failure, but can be intended and can be a sign of strength. We examine these different perceptions by using a sample of 48 strategic technology alliances in different high-technology industries. The findings in the paper confirm that the rates of termination are rather high for strategic technology alliances. Overall, we found that in particular negative prospects about future cooperation, negative perceptions about joint benefits and the lack of a win-win situation had an impact on the decision to terminate a strategic technology alliance. Also, the fact that some companies opt only for short-term (not for long-term and renewed) cooperation seems to introduce a negative factor into the longevity of strategic technology alliances.     

Managerial value and belief systems in a cross-national context: The case of thetrivial significance

This article discusses potential theoretical and methodological flaws in value-based research in a cross-national context. Using data from a comparative study of American and Indian CEOs, it is shown that some managerial beliefs and value systems do vary as a function of national background. While this is neither surprising nor exciting, whether this significantheterogeneity offers nontrivial predictive utilityin explaining the observed variance in a large number of structural, strategic, and other critical variables at the organizational level is the more important question. This study offers preliminary evidence to the contrary.In this era of multinational corporations and an emerging global market for executive and managerial talent, the question of whether some managerial beliefs and value systems persist in spite of extensive acculturation and socialization has been an issue of concern — especially in the United States because of a large and continuing flow of immigrants. Our results show in essence that this question, though important and interesting from a sociological angle, is perhaps not as crucial as one might suppose in influencing the strategic thrust, structural configurations, or certain aspects of performance of an organization.     

International alliance commitment and performance of small and medium-size enterprises: The mediating role of process control

Improving alliance performance is a critical issue that both managers and researchers have attempted to resolve. Recently scholars have suggested that firms can use alliance commitment and process controls to improve alliance performance. Yet research has only found weak support for these direct effects. In this paper we examine the mediating role of process controls on the relationship between alliance commitment and alliance performance. When tested on samples of SMEs we find support for our theoretical predictions. We then discuss the managerial implications of using commitment and process controls in SME international alliances.     

基于生产组织模式选择超边际分析的战略联盟稳定性边界研究

战略联盟是成员企业进行生产组织模式决策及其交互影响的均衡结果,其稳定性边界反映着内部化生产、市场交易和战略联盟三种不同的生产组织模式之间的转换临界条件,一个生产组织模式选择超边际分析的模型能有效地揭示出此边界条件,并显示出资产价值和交易效率这两个变量对战略联盟稳定性的决定性作用。     

Conditions for successful strategic alliances in the food industry

This paper focuses on strategic fuzzy alliances (SFAs) and the role of trust in business-to-business relationships. First, a theoretical model of governance choice involving strategic alliances is developed, integrating the Shapiro, Sheppard, and Cheraskin (1992) taxonomy of trust into a neoinstitutional framework. Second, this model, based on transaction theory, is then used to generate necessary and sufficient conditions for trust-based agreements. The third component of this paper is an empirical model, which tests the above theory. Finally, managerial implications from the results are discussed.     

Survival during a Crisis: Alliances by Singapore Firms

In this study, we focus on the under‐researched issue of how environmental shocks impact alliance survival. We draw from several different theoretical perspectives such as industrial organization economics, managerial theories of the firm (such as agency theory) and institutional theories. We argue that the relationship between the occurrence of environmental shock and alliance survival is a contingent one. Specifically, we hypothesize that the following types of alliances will exhibit better likelihood of survival: alliances that yield a balance of short‐term and long‐term benefits (scale alliances) rather than purely long‐term benefits (link alliances); alliances that lead to either cost reduction or near‐term improvement in revenue realization (marketing alliances); and alliances that bring together partners from different economic regions (those involving Western and Asian partners). Based on an analysis of 348 alliances formed by Singapore firms, we find that marketing alliances and those involving at least one Western partner indeed exhibit a better likelihood of survival during the Asian economic crisis. We conclude that alliances that can enhance revenue potential in the short‐term are more robust to environmental shocks and that alliances can benefit from an effect similar to risk reduction through international diversification.     

The Alliance formation process

While interest in developing strategic alliances within the food system continues to increase, there remains considerable risk when firms adopt such a cooperative strategy. The risk is due in part to the lack of concrete guidelines that illustrate the steps or stages of alliance development and the important strategic and operational decisions required at each stage. The existence of such guidelines would facilitate alliance formation and enable managers and researchers to better understand alliance practice. This paper provides an alliance formation model that incorporates the process of alliance formation with the strategic and operational considerations required for long term success. The model can be used by managers and academicians to develop and understand alliances.     

个人关系，联盟制度化程度与战略联盟控制——针对中国企业联盟实践的分析

有效的联盟控制是实现战略联盟潜在优势的重要保证.文章针对中国企业间战略联盟中的控制方式选择与应用展开分析.基于社会交易理论和制度理论,提出中国企业间联盟中个人层次的关系与联盟层次上的制度化程度是决定中国企业间战略联盟控制方式的重要因素;同时个人关系和联盟制度化对控制方式的影响在联盟不同阶段存在显著差异.通过对365个中国企业联盟进行调研所获得的数据进行统计分析,验证了相关假说.最后对研究的理论和实践意义进行讨论.     

Warum suchen Biotechnologieunternehmen strategische Allianzen? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung

Zusammenfassung  In diesem Beitrag werden die Faktoren untersucht, die zur Allianzbildung junger Biotechnologieunternehmen beitragen. Aus einer ressourcenorientierten Perspektive wird argumentiert, dass die Entscheidung von Managern, Partnerunternehmen für neue Allianzen zu suchen, von der Ressourcensituation ihres Unternehmens und den Ressourcenanforderungen bzw. -akquisitionsm?glichkeiten der Umwelt abh?ngen. Eine Analyse von 1664 Allianzentscheidungen aus einem Conjoint-Experiment mit 52 Top-Managern der deutschen Biotechnologiebranche zeigt, dass fehlende finanzielle Ressourcen die Haupttriebkraft sind. Au?erdem zeigt sich, dass für die meisten Manager fehlende, für manche Manager jedoch vorhandene Ressourcen eine st?rkere Triebkraft der Allianzsuche darstellen Diese Ergebnisse erweitern die wissenschaftliche Literatur über strategische Allianzen und haben Implikationen für die Managerpraxis.

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Why do biotechnology firms seek strategic alliances? An experimental study

Summary  In this article we draw on a resource-based perspective to analyze the drivers for strategic alliance formation in the biotechnology industry. We state that the decisions of managers to seek out new alliance partners depend on the resource endowments of their ventures as well as the resource demands and opportunities the environment places for them. We use a conjoint experiment to collect data on 1664 alliance decisions nested within 52 top managers of German biopharmaceutical ventures. Our data show that missing financial resources are the strongest driver. Moreover, we find that whereas for most managers missing resources are drivers of alliance search, a minority of managers is more motivated by a strong resource position of their ventures. Our results extend the literature on strategic alliances and have implications for practitioners.

Danksagung: Der Autor dankt zwei anonymen Gutachtern für ihre hilfreichen Kommentare. Das Projekt wurde durch ein EXIST-HighTEPP-Stipendium des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung gef?rdert.     

Benefactors and Beneficiaries: The Effects of Giving and Receiving on Cost‐Coalitional Problems

Motivated by supply chain collaborations in practice, we introduce a class of cost‐coalitional problems, which are based on a priori information about the cost faced by each agent in each set that it could belong to. Our focus is on problems with decreasingly monotonic coalitional costs. In this class of problems, we study the effects of giving and receiving when there exist players whose participation in an alliance always contributes to the savings of all alliance members (we refer to these players as benefactors), and there also exist players whose cost decreases in such an alliance (we call them beneficiaries). We use linear and quadratic norm cost games to analyze the role played by benefactors and beneficiaries in achieving stability of different cooperating alliances. We consider different notions of stability (the core and the bargaining set) and provide conditions for stability of an all‐inclusive alliance of agents which leads to minimum value of total cost incurred by all agents.     

Impact of Demand Uncertainty on Stability of Supplier Alliances in Assembly Models

In their recent paper, Nagarajan and Sošić study an assembly supply chain in which n suppliers sell complementary components to a downstream assembler, who faces a price‐sensitive deterministic demand. Suppliers may form alliances, and each alliance then sells a kit of components to the assembler and determines the price for that kit. The assembler buys the components (kits) from the alliances and sets the selling price of the product. Nagarajan and Sošić consider three modes of competition—supplier Stackelberg, vertical Nash (VN), and assembler Stackelberg models—which correspond to different power structures in the market, and study stable supplier alliances when the assembler faces linear and isoelastic demand. In this paper, we study the impact that demand uncertainty has on stability results obtained in Nagarajan and Sošić. We first analyze models in which all decisions are made before the uncertainty is resolved, and show that the alliance of all suppliers remains stable when demand is isoelastic, or under Stackelberg models when demand is linear. However, demand uncertainty may change stability results when both parties make decisions simultaneously (VN model) and demand is linear. We then extend our results by considering scenarios in which some decisions may be postponed and made after the actual demand is known. When the ordering quantity can be determined after observing the true demand, we show that stable outcomes correspond to those obtained in the deterministic case and uncertainty has no impact on coalition stability; if only the assembler's pricing decision is postponed, we need additional conditions for stability results to carry over in the additive demand model.     

Equity versus non-equity international strategic alliances involving Danish firms: An empirical investigation of the relative importance of partner and host country determinants

A substantial literature has evolved focusing on the ownership structure of international strategic alliances (ISAs). Most of the relevant studies are theoretical in nature and concentrate on the conceptual factors that influence the choice between equity and non-equity structures. A smaller number of studies provide some empirical evidence on the importance of some of the conceptual factors. The theoretical literature highlights the potential influence of relational capital and transaction costs as determinants of ISA structure; however, there is little empirical evidence on the relative importance of these potential determinants. Moreover, there is only limited and indirect evidence bearing upon the impact of host country governance attributes on ISA ownership structure. In this study, we provide statistical evidence on the importance of potential determinants of governance mode choice for a sample of ISAs involving Danish firms. Our study documents how the determinants of governance mode choice vary in importance depending upon the “quality” of the governance infrastructure of the host country.     

Improving the Progress of Research & Development (R&D) Projects by Selecting an Optimal Alliance Structure and Partner Type

This paper extends the study of alliance governance structure by examining what alliance structure, coordination mechanisms and partner type best enhance the likelihood of Research and Development (R&D) progress or performance. We specially focus on the coordination and interaction mechanism of alliances, through which we classify the alliance governance structures in order to reflect the more complex alliance types and contracts used in today's R&D. Using data from 255 biopharmaceuticals between the years 2000 and 2004, we found that, ceteris paribus, a moderate degree of inter‐partner interaction and a moderately complex (non‐equity‐based) alliance contract contributes more to a better R&D alliance performance than those structures that are too simple or too organizationally embedded (e.g. equity joint ventures), which possibly increase the risk of misalignment and miscommunication between allies. In addition, due to the reduced opportunism and the diverse resource (e.g. technology) pooled in the alliance, allying with diverse organizational partners such as non‐profit research institutes and universities is more likely to enhance the R&D performance. Our findings provide insightful strategic implications to practitioners in designing an appropriate alliance governance structure and choosing the right partner type for a successful R&D collaboration.     

Dynamic evolution of alliance portfolios

This research advances in the conceptualization and the operationalization of the factors or microdynamics that determine the choice of partners. Most of the literature in this area of research has centered on the individual alliance without taking into account the set of alliances that a firm makes. This research applies a holistic approach, analyzing the set of alliances as a whole and points to the factors related to alliance portfolios that affect the choice of partners. The authors propose a longitudinal model that allows us to analyze the evolution of interorganizational networks. A Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis (SIENA) has been applied to a sample of 229 firms, analyzing 10,556 strategic alliances established between them over a 12 year period. The results show that certain factors over which managers exercise a degree of control (deliberate endogenous microdynamics) exert significant influences on the choice of partners by the focal actor and thereby on the dynamic configuration of alliance portfolios.     

Strategic Alliance Temporalities and Partner Opportunism*

The troubling potential for opportunistic behaviour in strategic alliances is acknowledged in both research and practice, and yet the antecedents of such opportunism remain largely unexplored in the literature. In this article we suggest that the inherent temporalities of alliances play significant roles in partner opportunism. We propose a model of potential partner opportunism that assigns antecedent and contingent roles to the temporal horizons of alliances and the temporal orientations of the member firms. We introduce the notion of alliance horizons and suggest that they are constituted by the temporal orientations of the member firms and a number of common alliance formation factors. We also discuss how these alliance horizons in conjunction with the temporal orientations of member firms result in different levels of potential opportunism. Lastly, we develop a number of propositions to facilitate empirical research on the temporal contingencies of partner opportunism and indicate directions for further studies.     

基于资源风险的战略联盟结构模式选择

综合考虑各种资源的特性以及从风险产生的基础和决定风险的根本因素是公司投入的 资源的角度,提出将资源和风险整合,分析战略联盟的结构模式选择问题. 通过对资源、风险、 战略联盟的结构模式分类,建立了反映资源—风险—结构模式选择三者间关系的概念模型及 其相关的判断假说,并运用因子分析及结构方程的方法对所提出的假说进行验证. 研究结论认 为:资源、风险和战略联盟结构模式的选择偏好之间确实存在着紧密的联系. 公司管理者对战 略联盟结构模式选择偏好受到管理者对未来公司在战略联盟中风险的主观评价的影响,而公 司对战略联盟投入的资源是影响公司对风险主观评价的重要因素.