The self-organisation of strategic alliances

Abstract

Strategic alliances form a vital part of today's business environment. The sheer variety of collaborative forms is notable -which include R&D coalitions, marketing and distribution agreements, franchising, coproduction agreements, licensing, consortiums and joint ventures. Here we define a strategic alliance as a cooperative agreement between two or more autonomous firms pursuing common objectives or working towards solving common problems through a period of sustained interaction. A distinction is commonly made between 'formal' and 'informal' inter-firm alliances. Informal alliances involve voluntary contact and interaction while in formal alliances cooperation is governed by a contractual agreement. The advantage of formal alliances is the ability to put in place IPR clauses, confidentially agreements and other contractual measures designed to safeguard the firm against knowledge spill-over. However, these measures are costly to instigate and police. By contrast, a key attraction of informal relationships is their low co-ordination costs. Informal know-how trading is relatively simple, uncomplicated and more flexible, and has been observed in a number of industries.A number of factors affecting firms' decisions to cooperate or not cooperate within strategic alliances have been raised in the literature. In this paper we consider three factors in particular: the relative costs of coordinating activity through strategic alliances vis-à-vis the costs of coordinating activity in-house, the degree of uncertainty present in the competitive environment, and the feedback between individual decision-making and industry structure. Whereas discussion of the first two factors is well developed in the strategic alliance literature, the third factor has hitherto only been addressed indirectly. The contribution to this under-researched area represents an important contribution of this paper to the current discourse. In order to focus the discussion, the paper considers the formation of horizontal inter-firm strategic alliances in dynamic product markets. These markets are characterised by rapid rates of technological change, a high degree of market uncertainty, and high rewards (supernormal profits) for successful firms offset by shortening life cycles.

The Strategical Alliance as Factor of Competitive Advantages in It Companies - A Exploratory Study

“…Dessa forma, a aliança pode ser definida como uma relação bilateral caracterizada pelo comprometimento de duas ou mais empresas parceiras para atingirem um objetivo comum e na qual há o vínculo para que os parceiros reúnam ativos especializados e capacidades (JORDE; TEECE, 1989;PYKA;WINDRUM, 2003). Pyka e Windrum (2003) concluem esse raciocínio ao afirmarem que o objetivo de uma aliança também estaria relacionado à manutenção do foco da empresa em suas principais habilidades e competências, enquanto adquire outros componentes ou capacidades, a partir da relação com outras empresas, que não poderiam ser obtidos de maneira mais eficiente, por trocas de mercados ou fusões e aquisições e argumentam que a vantagem competitiva da aliança dependerá do quanto os ativos complementares dos parceiros estejam eficientemente alinhados.…”

“…A assertiva número 2, que sinaliza o foco para ganhos mútuos, apresenta relação com seis assertivas de vantagens (A, B, C, D, F e G) que tratam de eficiência operacional, inovação, flexibilidade e agilidade, de maneira que fica implícito que a definição de um objetivo em comum fortalece as empresas participantes (JORDE;TEECE, 1989;PYKA;WINDRUM, 2003). Já a assertiva número 4, que tem como variáveis latentes o controle de perdas e a organização, relaciona-se com as vantagens (B e C) específicas à operação e ao potencial da empresa para a obtenção de vantagens do first-mover, pela possibilidade de estabelecer uma vantagem expressiva sobre os concorrentes, notadamente em atividades funcionais colocadas em prática antes de outras empresas e relacionadas à produção, conforme Chandler (2001).…”

Analysis on the Strategic Alliance Cooperation Game under the Background of Big Data

“…Gulati (1998) argued that strategic alliance between the enterprises was a series of horizontal and vertical interwoven social networks based on their own purposes. Pyka & Windrum (2003) suggested that strategic alliance was a kind of cooperation or cooperative agreement of two or more enterprises in pursuit of common goals ; solving common problems in a sustained period of time. Although different scholars elaborate inconsistent, they all reflect that strategic alliance is cooperation between enterprises; alliance enterprises maintain their independence; and cooperation may be in the part field of business.…”

Self-Organisation Perspective to Responsible Innovation in Industry

“…The fundamental research question that studies in the self-organisation field seek to answer is "Where does order come from?" (Pyka, Windrum, 2003). At the systemic level emerge new structure and order that primarily are based on the system's components (agents) interactions without centralised control (Allen, Lesser, 1991).…”

“…The way how and to what direction innovation is developed within the firm heavily depends on the societal context the firm is embedded in. Firms are constantly adapting their innovative behaviour based on the emerging social norms and the industrial environment (Buenstorf, 2000;Pyka, Windrum, 2003). Therefore, in this paper, innovation is understood as an evolutionary process interacting with the social context.…”