Strategic alliance

Summary

A strategic alliance (also see strategic partnership) is an agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations. The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aims for a synergy where each partner hopes that the benefits from the alliance will be greater than those from individual efforts. The alliance often involves technology transfer (access to knowledge and expertise), economic specialization, shared expenses and shared risk. A strategic alliance will usually fall short of a legal partnership entity, agency, or corporate affiliate relationship. Typically, two companies form a strategic alliance when each possesses one or more business assets or have expertise that will help the other by enhancing their businesses. Strategic alliances can develop in outsourcing relationships where the parties desire to achieve long-term win-win benefits and innovation based on mutually desired outcomes. This form

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_alliance

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (10)

Related publications

Related people (2)

Related people

Related units

Related concepts (1)

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020

Related concepts

Related courses (6)

Related courses

Related lectures (8)

Related lectures

Technology In-Sourcing and the Creation of Pioneering Technologies

Vareska van de Vrande

This study analyzes the effect of different external technology sourcing modes on the creation of radical innovation in companies. Moreover, since prior research has indicated that exploration consists of looking beyond both organizational and technological boundaries, the role of technological distance between the partnering firms and the role of technological newness are also included. In particular, this paper examines how they affect the relationship between external technology sourcing and the creation of pioneering technologies (technologies that do not build on any existing technologies), which are used as a proxy for radical innovations. Using a sample of companies that were from the pharmaceutical industry, the results indicate that strategic alliances and corporate venture capital investments have a positive effect on the creation of pioneering technologies, whereas the effect of M&As is found to be negative. Additionally, the results show that the impact of these governance modes on the creation of pioneering technology is indeed affected by the newness of the technology and relatedness of the technological portfolios of the partnering firms. A larger technological distance between the two partnering firms increases the effect of strategic alliances on the creation of pioneering technologies. In addition, the results indicate that technological newness weakens the positive effect of CVC investments and non-equity alliances on the creation of pioneering technologies.

2011

Additivity and Complementarity in External Technology Sourcing: The Added Value of Corporate Venture Capital Investments

Vareska van de Vrande

Innovating firms often invest in a number of different technology projects, in different stages of development, using a wide range of distinct technology sourcing modes, such as strategic alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. Recently, firms have also gained an increasing awareness of the potential benefits of corporate venture capital investments. This paper investigates the particular role of corporate venture capital investments in the technology sourcing portfolio of firms. More specifically, we focus on the extent to which corporate venture capital investments are additive or complementary to other modes of technology sourcing when explaining the innovative performance of firms. The results indicate that corporate venture capital investments are particularly beneficial for the innovative performance of firms when they are used in combination with other technology sourcing modes.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers2011

This research contributes to the intra-organization, inter-organization, and new product development (NPD) management literature by studying the impact of a firm's internal organizational design on the communication within and performance of NPD projects conducted with strategic alliance partners. The empirical data were collected from three in-depth case studies of network lead companies (NLCs) operating in different industries. The three NLCs have different internal organizational designs, ranging from very flexible "organic" to very rigid "mechanistic." In each NLC, a successful new-to-firm product development project was chosen for further detailed investigation. First, we identify the role the alliance's NPD project characteristics and industry characteristics play in determining the "intensity level" and "media richness" of communication required between the alliance's NPD project partners. Then, we examine how the internal organizational design influences the actual intensity and media richness of communication of the alliance's NPD project that matches our assumptions of what is required. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Elsevier2009