In recent years, firms have been developing cooperative inter-organizational relationships with other firms as part of their overall strategies. This has come as a response to a variety of environmental developments such as globalization of markets, rapid shifts in technologies, and shortened product life cycles. The concept of “competition” is being complemented by “cooperation”, reflecting the breaking down of boundaries across firms and industries. Modern firms are interconnected in the sense that they are embedded in networks of ties with other firms. This raises the question of how should firms develop and manage their alliance portfolios to create and capture value. The management of a firm’s alliance portfolio is of concern to managers responsible for forming, managing, and maintaining the firm’s relationships with partners. The management of strategic alliances can impact the long-term success of the entire firm or a major division. Therefore, managers must identify the internal drivers and opportunities for forming alliances. They need to identify suitable partners, and then plan how their alliances will create value and how such value will be distributed between the parties involved in the alliance. Whereas most alliances enable firms to pursue shared objectives, in some cases, firms ally with their competitors, in which case, special attention should be paid to issues such as learning and protection of proprietary assets. Making alliances work is a challenging and nontrivial objective. This presentation will try to address some of the key questions in managing strategic alliances.
# Why do firms enter alliances?
# How do firms select suitable partners and manage partner misfit?
# How do firms create and capture value from alliances?
# Hoc can firms successfully collaborate with competitors?
# How can firms make alliances work?