Showing papers on "Strategic alliance published in 2000"

Redundant governance structures: an analysis of structural and relational embeddedness in the steel and semiconductor industries

Abstract: Network researchers have argued that both relational embeddedness—characteristics of relationships—and structural embeddedness—characteristics of the relational structure—influence firm behavior and performance. Using strategic alliance networks in the semiconductor and steel industries, we build on past embeddedness research by examining the interaction of these factors. We argue that the roles relational and structural embeddedness play in firm performance can only be understood with reference to the other. Moreover, we argue that the influence of these factors on firm performance is contingent on industry context. More specifically, our empirical analysis suggests that strong ties in a highly interconnected strategic alliance network negatively impact firm performance. This network configuration is especially suboptimal for firms in the semiconductor industry. Furthermore, strong and weak ties are positively related to firm performance in the steel and semiconductor industries, respectively. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interorganizational alliances and the performance of firms: a study of growth and innovation rates in a high‐technology industry

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between intercorporate technology alliances and firm performance. It argues that alliances are access relationships, and therefore that the advantages which a focal firm derives from a portfolio of strategic coalitions depend upon the resource profiles of its alliance partners. In particular, large firms and those that possess leading-edge technological resources are posited to be the most valuable associates. The paper also argues that alliances are both pathways for the exchange of resources and signals that convey social status and recognition. Particularly when one of the firms in an alliance is a young or small organization or, more generally, an organization of equivocal quality, alliances can act as endorsements: they build public confidence in the value of an organization's products and services and thereby facilitate the firm's efforts to attract customers and other corporate partners. The findings from models of sales growth and innovation rates in a large sample of semiconductor producers confirm that organizations with large and innovative alliance partners perform better than otherwise comparable firms that lack such partners. Consistent with the status-transfer arguments, the findings also demonstrate that young and small firms benefit more from large and innovative strategic alliance partners than do old and large organizations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Complementarity, status similarity and social capital as drivers of alliance formation

Abstract: Using data on U.S. investment banking firms’ syndication in underwriting corporate stock offerings during the 1980s, this study explores the factors that drive alliance formation between two specific firms. We compare resource complementarity, status similarity, and social capital as a basis of alliance formation. The findings indicate that the likelihood of investment banks’ alliance formation is positively related to the complementarity of their capabilities, as well as their status similarity. Social capital arising from banks’ direct and indirect collaborative experiences also plays a very important role in alliance formation. The number of deals given by a lead bank to a potential partner over the past three years has an inverted U-shaped relationship to the probability that the lead bank will invite the potential partner to form an alliance. Our findings indicate that status similarity and social capital have a stronger effect on alliance formation in initial public offering deals than in secondary offering deals, as the former are more uncertain than the latter. Using these findings, we discuss the role of complementarity, status similarity, and social capital in alliance formation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Strategic Alliance Success Factors

Abstract: SUMMARY There is recognition that competition is shifting from a “firm versus firm perspective” to a “supply chain versus supply chain perspective.” In response to this shift, firms seeking competitive advantage are participating in cooperative supply chain arrangements, such as strategic alliances, which combine their individual strengths and unique resources. Buyer-supplier sourcing relationships are a primary focus of alliance improvement efforts. While interest in such arrangements remains strong, it is well accepted that creating, developing, and maintaining a successful alliance is a very daunting task. This research addresses several critical issues regarding that challenge. First, what factors contribute most to long-term alliance success? Second, what conditions define the presence of those success factors? Third, do buyers and suppliers in an alliance agree on those success factors and defining conditions? The research results demonstrate a remarkably consistent perspective among alliance partners regarding key success factors, despite the acknowledgment that the resultant success is based on a relatively even, but not equal, exchange of benefits and resources. Additionally, within an alliance's intended “win-win” foundation, suppliers must recognize their innate dependence on customers. Finally, significant opportunities for improvement exist with respect to alliance goal clarification, communication, and performance evaluation.

Executive travel stress: Perils of the road warrior

Abstract: Executive Overview An important but rarely studied organizational activity is executive travel, a process that may be even more significant in this era of globalization, mergers, nation-state economic development and growth, and free-market strategic alliance building. Executive travel and the stress it may create is also a process that can cause emotional upset, physical illness, decreased performance, and problems in achieving company objectives. While travelers—be they businesspeople, politicians, or diplomats—can testify to the problems that being on the road may bring, a systematic discussion of this issue is necessary. None of the current models of occupational stress address this concern, and organizations have generally not effectively prepared their employees to withstand this stress. This article reviews the concept of travel stress among business executives, including the sources and the potential impact of stress before, during, and after travel. We offer both organizational and individual int...

Tastes of Niagara: Building Strategic Alliances Between Tourism and Agriculture

Abstract: Summary Given the diverse structure within the tourism industry, the establishment and maintenance of strategic alliances has become an important approach to remaining competitive and innovative. The relationship between tourism and agriculture is complex and the purpose of this paper is to investigate “Tastes of Niagara: A Quality Food Alliance,” an evolving strategic alliance among the Region's food producers, processors, distributors, hotels, wineries, restaurants and chefs. The objective of the alliance is to promote the use of local products in the tourism industry. Key informant interviews were conducted with members of the alliance documenting the importance and difficulties in establishing and maintaining successful strategic alliances.

Knowledge Creation in Strategic Alliances: Another Look at Organizational Learning

Abstract: This paper argues that a certain amount of partner conflict must exist for knowledge creation to occur in a strategic alliance. We argue that such tensions can generate opportunities for firms to challenges each other's assumptions and paradigms, leading to novel perspective and new solutions. This position is contrasted to existing theories that present conflict minimization as the route to alliance success. The paper exploits the generative or double-loop learning process (Liedtka et al. 1997; Argyris and Schon 1996) to build a model of inter-organizational knowledge creation and explicitly considers the implications for partner interactions. We suggest that knowledge creation often occurs in turbulent and discontinuous environments associated with the tension between alliance partners of different cultural origins. This paradox is critical to understanding the reasons why strategic alliances often fall short in their potential to create new knowledge.

Technological Discontinuities and the Nature of Competition

Abstract: We revisit the Schumpeterian model of competition driven by the perennial gale of creative destruction. Not every innovation must necessarily lead to the destruction of incumbent firms. In many high-technology industries we observe a symbiotic coexistence between new entrant and incumbent firms. This phenomenon warrants more attention. We build upon the innovation and strategic alliance literature to develop the notion of ’complementary innovation.’ We advance propositions with respect to the following questions: What impact will a complementary innovation have on firm entry, interfirm cooperation, and the nature of competition? Based on the propositions advanced, we develop a cyclical model of industry dynamics initiated by a complementary innovation. The propositions and the cyclical model of industry dynamics are illustrated in a case study of the biopharmaceutical industry.

Strategic alliances in logistics outsourcing

Abstract: Looks at the problems of logistics in military operations and today’s commercial businesses. Traces the development of logistics management from a subordinate activity within a product producing entity to its performance by a separate entity which specializes in this area and requires a strategic alliance. Looks at this issue from the perspective of the outsourcing company and the logistical company. Considers what happens when this process is reversed and provides implications for the future.

Synergies in Strategic Alliances: Motivation and Outcomes of Complementary and Synergistic Knowledge Networks

Abstract: This paper aims at contributing to the research concerning alliance dynamics by combining elements from research considering motives for alliance formation and alliance outcomes. This paper draws on the resource-based view of the firm, suggesting that firms’ competitive advantages derive from their preferential access to idiosyncratic resources, especially tacit knowledge-related (based) resources. However, by integrating the resource-based view into the network perspective, the main arguments focus on the relationship between conditions for alliance formation and outcomes and the impact of learning on the dynamic evolution of alliances. The paper breaks with the traditional assumption of complementarity of resources (or resource-bases) as a necessity for successful collaboration, and proposes a different and more dynamic approach to alliance formation in the pursuit of what seems to be the ultimate goal of strategic alliances: Synergy. Ultimately, this paper identifies two different types of knowledge networks: Complementary Knowledge Networks and Synergistic Knowledge Networks, which, depending on the initial motivation and conditions, will lead to different outcomes in terms of learning and knowledge creation for the partners.

Determinants of trust in global strategic alliances: amrad and the australian biomedical industry

Abstract: Although the importance of trust in creating and maintaining interorganizational relationships has been acknowledged, little research has focused on the processes leading to the development of trust in international strategic alliances. This article addresses this shortcoming and reports the results of field research on the evolution of AMRAD Pharmaceuticals, a strategic alliance between U.S. and Australian biomedical firms. Based on this case study, a process model of trust is developed which describes how trust can be created and expanded between strategic alliance partners, and its implications for alliance performance. Propositions are developed to motivate and guide future empirical investigation.

Strategies for effective management participation in community health partnerships.

Abstract: This article develops guidelines for effective health services management participation in community health partnerships. Drawing on our study of Community Care NetworkSM (CCN) Demonstration, the strategic alliance literature, and other research, we describe six challenges that health services manag

Strategies for local and regional NGO development: combining sustainable outcomes with sustainable organizations

Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of the development of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the problem of how to combine sustainable outcomes from activities with sustainable organizations. It seeks to blend concept with practice via the development and application of a model of the NGO as an entrepreneurial organization. The context is that of the experience of (and work undertaken with) the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) funded Competency-based Economies through the Formation of Enterprise (CEFE) Network of NGOs in South Africa. The paper argues that viewing NGOs as entrepreneurial small organizations with a focus upon dynamic stakeholder network development, entrepreneurial management, strategic business development, and strategic alliance building is the key to the much sought after combination of sustainable outcomes and organization. After briefly reviewing some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with the role of NGOs in small enterprise development and the...

Knowledge and Economic Organization: An Application to the Analysis of Interfirm Collaboration

Abstract: Transactions cost analysis provides incisive analysis of the factors influencing the relative efficiencies of firms and markets in organizing economic activity. However, it is less successful in its analysis of interfirm collaboration: a characteristic feature of industrial organization in the advanced economies of the world. To shed greater light upon the formation and performance of intern collaboration, this chapter looks to the emerging knowledge-based view of the firm to extend and augment transaction cost explanations. Focusing upon knowledge integration as the essence of production, we shall establish the conditions for the efficiency of knowledge-based production. While firms have advantages in establishing and maintaining the mechanisms for knowledge integration, incongruence between firms’ product domains and their knowledge domains offers opportunities to improve the efficiency of knowledge utilization through collaborative alliances. These advantages are enhanced where there is uncertainty over future knowledge requirements, and where new products offer early-mover advantages.

Contradictions in international tertiary strategic alliances: the case from down under

Abstract: Reports the dilemma faced by Australian universities in their international strategic alliance effort. While the 22 respondent universities espouse such motives as altruism, scholarship, and expansion into new markets as the reasons for entering into international strategic alliances, the true motives appear to be at variance with the former. Arguably, until the contradictions between the espoused and true positions are resolved, Australian universities may not realise the full potential of their international collaborative activities. Suggestions for resolving the discrepancy are offered.

The international networking between European logistical operators

Abstract: This thesis explores the temporal development of a strategic alliance formed by seven logistical firms from the Nordic region and European mainland The analytical spotlight focuses on a decade long transition from a loose collaborative association to a formal consortium By applying five levels of analysis, the study produced several insights and contributions of conceptual, theoretical, analytical and managerial art Conceptually, the explanatory viability of several theories has been verified while conceptual inadequacy of several other propositions have been established Theoretically, the study bridges the network-based conceptualizations of strategic alliances with other scientific fields such as international management, business process redesign, logistical systems evolution, intercultural communication and cross-cultural decision-making, and integrates research outcomes into an empirically validated model of the alliance’s systemic fit Analytically, the "black box" of alliance’s evolution has been unpacked using a longitudinal, multivariate research method By identifying several inversely related causal motors that concurrently and interchangeably shaped the alliance transition, the study demonstrates that over a ten-year period the forces of collaboration overpowered the relational and cultural diversity, and contributed to intra-alliance match Managerial relevance derives from the fact that the alliance became Pan-European logistical service supplier, benefited from network enlargement, realized economies of scope, higher customer density, joint operational governance and intimate knowledge of demand specifics These inputs have been translated into discernible competitive advantage by both, the multi-domestic and transnational output supply strategies that seldom are employed in parallel by orthodox corporate systems The multi-domestic style of operations allowed the alliance partners creating a complete value chain in their home markets This enabled the alliance to cope with demand heterogeneity in the European market and compete with other internationals through a broad market-service spectrum On the other hand, by producing different elements of its value chain in different countries, the alliance created a transnational distribution system that could serve global customers, realize economies of international standardization and participate in global rivalry By showing that single-modal freight supply solutions should be customized to meet international demand diversity, while intermodal distribution measures should be standardized to secure uniform quality standard throughout the entire distribution channel, these findings provided empirically tested knowledge on viable scope of integration for operators in complex international markets These latter insights may represent valuable utility to managers seeking to match the supply structure with demand postulates from international users

Fractal manufacturing partnership: exploring a new form of strategic alliance between OEMs and suppliers

Abstract: In today’s competitive environment, companies are paying more attention to product innovations, customized products, manufacturing agility, and lean operations. To support this mode of operations, companies are moving from highly vertically integrated organizations to leaner core business units supported by supplier networks. While partnership companies and their suppliers could take a variety of forms, “fractal manufacturing partnership” (FMP) is an emerging approach designed to maximize the logistical attributes of a lean production system and configured to provide the strategic merging of engineering network capabilities. FMP is most suitable for engineering assembly type work in which seamless operation is desired and where agile feedback is necessary. Based on the case study of the automotive industry, this paper will discuss the characteristics and attributes of FMP. However, more research is required to quantify the direct benefits of this approach.

Collaboration Between Technology Entrepreneurs and Large Corporations: Key Design and Management Issue

Abstract: The 1990's witnessed an explosive growth in strategic alliance activity. Today, strategic alliances are a central element in the growth strategies of technology entrepreneurs and emerging technology companies. In many instances, these alliances involve a large corporate partner. This phenomenon has been accelerated by the explosion in corporate venturing activity in recent years. On a conceptual level, alliances between small entrepreneurial firms and large corporations can provide significant benefits to both parties. A small technology company can leverage the research, manufacturing, marketing and financial resources of the large partner while the latter can tap into the innovative capacity of the smaller partner. On a practical level, however these alliances pose some significant design and management challenges. This article examines these challenges and outlines actions that the technology entrepreneur can take to respond to them.

Feasibility of strategic alliance as an entry strategy into markets dominated by major competitors

Abstract: Although the benefits of strategic alliances are well documented, whether strategic alliances can be a viable entry strategy option for small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs) to successfully penetrate markets held by major incumbent suppliers is less clear. In this paper, strategic alliances are shown to be an effective entry‐cum‐deterrence strategy for SMEs to successfully penetrate markets that are well established and dominated by major corporations. In addition, the conditions under which SMEs can use strategic alliances as an entry strategy without restricting themselves to target only those markets ignored by bigger firms are identified. In terms of methodology, this paper follows a deductive approach – one based on game theory, to examine explicitly the reactions of bigger firms to the entry of SMEs into their markets, specifically taking into account the resource limitations faced by SMEs. To verify that the theoretical arguments presented are consistent with practice, two cases of the use of strategic alliances by SMEs as an entry strategy to penetrate markets dominated by major corporations are examined. The practices and experiences of these SMEs were found to be consistent with the theoretical arguments presented here.

International Strategic Alliances: A Tale of Two Firms

Abstract: Firms seeking to enter international markets have increasingly opted for cooperative relationships with business partners as a mode of easing and promoting market entry. This study examines the expansion of two small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), organizations with· 30 to 500 employees, in the U.S. and in Mexico. The study compares and contrasts the nearly simultaneous expansion of a U.S.-based franchisor into Mexico and that of a Mexican firm into the U.S. In addition to its implications regarding strategic alliance as an international entry mode for SMEs, this study also contributes toward the quest for longitudinal theory building. Given that this was the first international expansion for both principal entities, a major outcome of the study is documentation of the importance of both partnership and planning for successful international activities.

Black-Box Protection of Core Competencies in Strategic Alliances

Abstract: This article presents a conceptual framework that participants in cooperative ventures may use to protect core competencies and proprietary information, while allowing the cooperative venture to benefit from these. While strategic alliances, in various forms, are becoming more common (Beamish and Delios, 1997), a potentially issue that often remains unresolved is how to protect your core competencies, while still cooperating openly with your partner, particularly when advanced technology is involved. It can be difficult for partners in an alliance to cooperate and openly share strategic know-how. Cooperation and openness are necessary, however, if a joint venture is to succeed. Since the success of any strategic alliance is based on cooperation, trust and an open sharing of competencies, potentially sensitive knowledge might be exposed through the joint venture. This is why many executives regard strategic alliances with reservation (Lorenz, 1992). They resist giving away core strategic competencies that might be misused in other contexts.

Strategic community management in a large business: Case study of strategic alliances between Japanese and American companies in multimedia business field

Abstract: For the last few years, the videoconferencing system market represented by multimedia technology has enjoyed strong growth in Japan. Behind the recent upturn in this market was the strategic alliance of NTT, Japan’s largest telecommunications carrier, and PictureTel of the USA, followed by the birth of business communities centered around or outside NTT, thus intensively creating and boosting a new market referred to as video communication. This article reviews the challenges that faced NTT, one of the big businesses in Japan, followed by PictureTel and other players within and outside NTT, all of which were lined up to create various strategic business communities. The article gives careful consideration to the measures taken by these players who achieved success in such a way as to alter employee consciousness, vitalize organizational morale, entrench the new NTT “Phoenix” brand (videoconferencing system) in the Japanese market and create an emergent video network market.

A Theoretical Analysis of Liner Shipping Conferences and Strategic Alliances

Abstract: We analyze the economic impacts of industrial organizational struggles on the international liner shipping market. Operating ratios of different markets are discussed by incorporating rate, service level, and other variables into a standard microeconomic model. If two different carriers agree on a shipping conference price and/or share a strategic alliance service level, and maximize consolidated profit, a member carrier finds it easier to make its operation profitable than the individual profit optimization case; other carriers are worse off in becoming profitable. If the carriers face inelastic demand, the price continues rising until demand becomes elastic enough for the equilibrium to be relevant. The conference is expected to play a coordination role so that the market does not become unsustainable in the adjustment process to reach equilibrium.