The Governance of Strategic Alliances

The continual creation of countless strategic alliances amongst major international corporations is one of the defining characteristics of the contemporary market economy. Alliances with governments, competitors, customers, suppliers and a variety of research and educational institutions are necessary when facing rising R & D costs, shortening product life-cycles, the increasing need for global economies and the rapid transformation of technologies. Companies seek to leverage key resources by coupling them with the resources possessed by others.

This key book analyzes the experience of alliance formation and governance in a number of international corporations in a range of industry sectors. Important governance factors explored include:

• the alliance environment
• alliance conditions
• performance
• evaluation
• outcomes.

Alliances can be defined as business relationships between independent firms to pursue important goals where partners pool, exchange or integrate key strategic resources for mutual gain. Critical to the success or failure of strategic alliances is how well they are governed, a topic this book explores in detail.