From software to steel, aerospace to apparel, the pace of strategic alliances is quickening. Defined broadly as any relationship between companies involving a sharing of common destinies, strategic alliances are cropping up all across the globe. A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more partners to share knowledge or resources which could be beneficial to all parties involved. Strategic alliances can be as simple as two companies sharing their technological and/or marketing resources. In contrast, they can be highly complex, involving several companies, located in different countries. These firms may in turn be linked with other organizations in separate alliances. The result is a maze of intertwined companies which may be competing with each other in several product areas.
Industrial product management benefits from efforts to distinguish
more clearly between product elimination and product replacement
problems. Two basic approaches to the product elimination problem are
contained in literature: the theoretical/normative approach to modelling
the decision process, and the empirical approach based in observation,
description and analysis, of how firms actually detect and eliminate or
replace weak products. Several authors have commented about the
difficulty of reconciling apparent differences in the two approaches.
Reports an intensive involvement in an in‐depth case history of a major
firm′s behaviour when confronted by a significant product elimination
decision. This study attempts to bridge the gap between theory and
practice and suggests several propositions that await verification.
Decision systems analysis, participant observation, and document analysis were used to collect data on the activities, decisions, and interactions of persons involved in 18 plant purchasing agreements (PPAs) in six industrial firms. PPAs are statements of intention to buy (and sell) a quantity of a specified production or nonproduction material within a given time period, usually a year or more. A descriptive, composite model of activities, decisions, and interactions is presented. Differences and similarities across the 18 PPAs investigated in the study are reviewed. Implications for theory development and for marketing management are offered.
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