Constrained choices in alliance formations: Cupids and organizational marriages

Abstract

This article develops a constrained choice model of strategic decision-making for `cupid' alliances. Unlike voluntary alliances, cupid alliances are forged between `target' organizations at the behest of a third `cupid' organization that stands to benefit from creation of the alliance. Three key alliance decisions — whether to partner, with whom, and governance — are substantially curtailed by the cupid's requirements, producing a severely constrained set of strategic decisions. The conceptual model is supplemented with a case study which relies on qualitative interviews, observations and communication network data collected from principals negotiating a cupid alliance. A finding which may be unique to cupid alliances was the decline in trust over the course of the negotiation between those representatives whose organizations had no past alliance relationships. This finding is especially interesting given the fact that despite the decreased propensity for representatives to trust, an agreement was still reached.