Strategic Alliances

This reader will provide an introduction to the basic theories and concepts in the area of collaborative strategy as well as an overview of current evidence on alliances. Alliance research has become something of a cottage industry, with scores of recent articles on the subject. Thus, one aim of the book is to provide readers with a road map of where to start for some of the most important perspectives on collaborative strategy. The book begins with articles presenting a broad picture of alliance research. Each of these pieces individually provides a solid and helpful literature review and introduction to the topic. The book then considers economic perspectives on alliances, which examine the question of what prompts firms to enter into collaboration with others, and when alliances are suitable relative to alternatives such as internal development and acquisitions. The third portion of the book takes up realoptions, an emerging perspective which is currently popular in the strategy field as a whole, and has likewise changed how one thinks about alliance motives and what determines the usefulness of short-lived collaborations for parent firms. This section offers the pioneering piece as well as some empiricalevidence relating to the prospects for this new perspective on alliances. The book then considers learning perspectives on alliances. This section begins with work examining learning within individual alliances and the competitive processes that shape the dynamics of inter-firm collaboration. It then proceeds to address the question of whether firms can develop an alliance capability in general and through accumulated experience in particular. The concluding section introduces readers torelational perspectives of collaborative strategy.

Jeffrey J. Reuer is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Management at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University and is on leave from INSEAD, the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France. He received his Ph.D. in Strategic Management from Purdue University. He serves on the editorial and advisory boards of the Strategic Management Journal and the European Management Journal.