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Managing strategic alliances: What do we know now, and where do we go from here. Academy of Management Perspectives 23(3
, 2009
"... Alliances present a paradox for firms. On the one hand, firms engage in a large number of alliances to secure and extend their competitive advantage and growth; on the other hand, their alliances exhibit surprisingly low success rates. In this paper, we discuss how firms can address these failures b ..."
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Alliances present a paradox for firms. On the one hand, firms engage in a large number of alliances to secure and extend their competitive advantage and growth; on the other hand, their alliances exhibit surprisingly low success rates. In this paper, we discuss how firms can address these failures by identifying some of the primary drivers of alliance success. First, we discuss how firms can achieve success with any individual alliance by considering critical factors at each phase of the alliance life cycle. Second, we show how firms can increase their overall alliance success by developing and institutionalizing firm-level capabilities to manage alliances. Third, we highlight emerging issues in the alliance context, including the need to recognize a new class of alliances between firms and not-for-profit organizations or individuals, the benefits of taking a “portfolio approach ” to alliance strategy and management, and the opportunity to transfer one’s alliance capabilities to the effective management of other interfirm relationships, including acquisitions. TheAllianceParadox In the last two decades, alliances have become acentral part of most companies ’ competitive andgrowth strategies. Alliances help firms strengthen their competitive position by enhancing market power (Kogut, 1991), increasing efficiencies (Ahuja, 2000), accessing new or critical resources or capabilities (Rothaermel & Boeker, 2008), and entering new markets (Garcia-Canal, Duarte, Criado, & Llaneza, 2002). By the turn of this century many of the world’s largest companies had over 20 % of their assets, and over 30 % of their annual research expenditures, tied up in such re-lationships (Ernst, 2004). A study by Partner Al-liances reported that over 80 % of Fortune 1000 CEOs believed that alliances would account for almost 26 % of their companies ’ revenues in
Alliance portfolios: a review and research agenda
- Journal of Management
"... The engagement of firms in multiple simultaneous strategic alliances with different partners has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business landscape. This article offers a review of the extant alliance portfolio literature and organizes it around three key research areas: (a) the emergence ..."
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The engagement of firms in multiple simultaneous strategic alliances with different partners has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business landscape. This article offers a review of the extant alliance portfolio literature and organizes it around three key research areas: (a) the emergence of alliance portfolios, (b) the configuration of alliance portfolios, and (c) the man-agement of alliance portfolios. The article also highlights existing gaps in the present under-standing of alliance portfolios and outlines a research agenda by identifying key research questions and issues in the areas where further research is needed.
COMPLEMENTARITY, CAPABILITIES, AND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FIRM: THE IMPACT OF WITHIN-FIRM AND INTERFIRM EXPERTISE ON CONCURRENT SOURCING OF COMPLEMENTARY COMPONENTS
, 2009
"... Theories of the firm raise conflicting arguments about how complementarities between two or more components affect firms ’ knowledge and production boundaries. Traditional arguments in the boundaries of the firm literature suggest that firms will tend to produce sets of complementary components inte ..."
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Cited by 19 (0 self)
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Theories of the firm raise conflicting arguments about how complementarities between two or more components affect firms ’ knowledge and production boundaries. Traditional arguments in the boundaries of the firm literature suggest that firms will tend to produce sets of complementary components internally, while more recent modularity studies argue that firms can outsource to gain flexibility. We resolve these views by examining concurrent sourcing, which arises when firms both make and buy the same components. We argue that concurrent sourcing of complementary components becomes more common in two cases: when firms have relevant knowledge about the components in conjunction with suppliers (interfirm expertise) and, perhaps more surprisingly, within the firm (within-firm shared expertise). The results suggest that firms often need to make in order to know, but can partially outsource if they possess sufficient expertise. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A MULTILEVEL FRAMEWORK OF FIRM BOUNDARIES: FIRM CHARACTERISTICS, DYADIC DIFFERENCES, AND NETWORK ATTRIBUTES †
, 2009
"... Extending prior firm boundary research that tends to focus on economic explanations and rely on atomistic assumptions, we propose a multilevel framework by bridging the resource-based view and the social network perspective, with their respective emphases on the importance of firms ’ internal resour ..."
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Cited by 14 (3 self)
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Extending prior firm boundary research that tends to focus on economic explanations and rely on atomistic assumptions, we propose a multilevel framework by bridging the resource-based view and the social network perspective, with their respective emphases on the importance of firms ’ internal resource endowments and external resource opportunities. Specifically, we argue that firms ’ boundary choices can be better understood by considering the tension between the need for external resources and the need for risk controls, affected by internal and external resource factors at three important levels: firm characteristics, dyadic differences, and network attributes. We also explore firms ’ boundary choices under two conditions: whether to initiate external relationships (non-partnering vs. partnering) and whether to pursue either alliances or acquisitions if external relationships are needed. Our analyses of the United States computer industry over a nine-year span largely support our theoretical framework and demonstrate the importance of unique factors at and across individual, dyadic, and network levels in understanding firms ’ boundary choices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Balance within and across domains: The performance implications of exploration and exploitation in alliances
- Organization Science
, 2011
"... Organizational research advocates that firms balance exploration and exploitation, yet it acknowledges inherent chal-lenges in reconciling these opposing activities. To overcome these challenges, such research suggests that firms establish organizational separation between exploring and exploiting u ..."
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Organizational research advocates that firms balance exploration and exploitation, yet it acknowledges inherent chal-lenges in reconciling these opposing activities. To overcome these challenges, such research suggests that firms establish organizational separation between exploring and exploiting units or engage in temporal separation whereby they oscillate between exploration and exploitation over time. Nevertheless, these approaches entail resource allocation trade-offs and conflicting organizational routines, which may undermine organizational performance as firms seek to balance explo-ration and exploitation within a discrete field of organizational activity (i.e., domain). We posit that firms can overcome such impediments and enhance their performance if they explore in one domain while exploiting in another. Studying the alliance portfolios of software firms, we demonstrate that firms do not typically benefit from balancing exploration and exploitation within the function domain (technology versus marketing and production alliances) and structure domain (new versus prior partners). Nevertheless, firms that balance exploration and exploitation across these domains by engaging in research and development alliances while collaborating with their prior partners, or alternatively, by forming marketing and production alliances while seeking new partners, gain in profits and market value. Moreover, we reveal that increases in firm size that exacerbate resource allocation trade-offs and routine rigidity reinforce the benefits of balance across domains and the costs of balance within domains. Our domain separation approach offers new insights into how firms can benefit
Understanding Collaboration Outcomes From an Extended Resource-Based View Perspective: The
- Roles of Organizational Characteristics, Partner Attributes, and Network Structures?,” Journal of Management (33:5
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WHEN DO RELATIONAL RESOURCES MATTER? LEVERAGING PORTFOLIO TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES FOR BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION
"... We examine the paradox of capabilities: although portfolio resources contribute to innovation success, and technologically capable firms have the ability to gain more such resources, firms ’ “competency traps ” and the tension between value creation and value protection reduce benefits from portfoli ..."
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We examine the paradox of capabilities: although portfolio resources contribute to innovation success, and technologically capable firms have the ability to gain more such resources, firms ’ “competency traps ” and the tension between value creation and value protection reduce benefits from portfolio resources for such firms. Results show that the quality and diversity of portfolio technological resources contribute to break-through innovation. The benefits are greater for firms with low internal strength and low internal diversity, thus suggesting positive synergy between portfolio and internal resources for such firms. Technologically strong firms, however, benefit from the quality of their portfolio resources when they overcome some of their competency traps. A central question in the literature on alliances and networks is this: When do relational resources matter (Sampson, 2007; Stuart, 2000)? The issue of when becomes even more critical if a firm is in pursuit of generating high-impact or breakthrough
2008, 'Cooperative internationalization of SMEs: selfcommitment as a success factor for international entrepreneurship
- European Management Journal
"... Summary Self-commitment is the willingness of individuals to commit to cooperation with a partner without the safety net of controls or sanction mechanisms. This article shows the unique performance contribution of self-commitment in the context of cooperative internationalization of SMEs in severa ..."
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Summary Self-commitment is the willingness of individuals to commit to cooperation with a partner without the safety net of controls or sanction mechanisms. This article shows the unique performance contribution of self-commitment in the context of cooperative internationalization of SMEs in several ways: First, we use a multiparadigmatic approach to cooperation theory to argue why self-commitment as a coordination mechanism is particularly relevant in the context of cooperative internationalization. Second, we develop a new operationalization of self-commitment which takes the context of international cooperations into account. Third, we show empirically that self-commitment is particularly important in international cooperations by applying a PLS analysis to a sample of 146 Austrian, Czech, and Slovenian cooperating SMEs. ª
Organizational Adaptation to Disruptions in the Natural Environment: The Case of Climate Change.
- Scandinavian Journal of Management,
, 2011
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Toward a learning-based view of internationalization: The accelerated trajectories of cross-border learning for latecomers.
- Journal of International Management,
, 2010
"... Integrating the conventional models with the emerging models, we propose a learning-based view of internationalization for multinational enterprise (MNE), especially for MNE latecomers as the new species of MNE from the emerging economies. Built upon the duality lens and transaction value perspecti ..."
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Integrating the conventional models with the emerging models, we propose a learning-based view of internationalization for multinational enterprise (MNE), especially for MNE latecomers as the new species of MNE from the emerging economies. Built upon the duality lens and transaction value perspective, this learning-based view frames the pattern of cross-border learning in terms of both learning motive and learning capability as a learning trajectory, with distinctive entry strategies as the primary applications of such learning trajectories. The learning trajectories on the dimensions of exploitative and exploratory learning as well as unilateral and bilateral leaning jointly constitute an overall framework of MNE evolution with cross-border learning as its central theme, especially in the process of an accelerated internationalization. In particular, we frame cross-border alliance as a special form for bilateral learning in terms of co-exploitation and co-exploration, which motivates and enables the accelerated internationalization of MNE latecomers. Finally, we identify four major learningbased issues as new "big questions" to reflect the emerging paradigm shift from hierarchybased unilateral exploitation to network-based bilateral exploration with the theme that hierarchy is best for exploiting the extant core competence, while strategic alliance is best for exploring a novel core competence. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Despite the consensus that multinational enterprises (MNE) have been the primary driver behind the trend toward globalization There are ongoing debates over the relevance of the conventional models, including the Ownership-Location-Internalization (OLI) model
