Methodological approaches to forming strategic alliances

The development of strategic alliances between Russian and foreign pharmaceutical companies allows not only to introduce biotechnologies in the domestic market, but also to strengthen the policy of import substitution and increase export volumes. That is why it is important to support the creation and functioning of strategic alliances at the state level. The purpose of this article is to study the creation and development of strategic alliances between Russia and Hungary, paying attention to the formation of alliances in the field of pharmaceuticals. In order to achieve this goal, the indicators of export-import operations between Russia and Hungary in the field of “pharmaceutical products”, as well as the main strategic alliances operating between the two countries were considered. It is assumed that the development of Russian-Hungarian strategic alliances in the field of pharmaceuticals with localization of production will help to achieve the goals of the import substitution policy in the field of drug production, as well as to intensify export operations. To test this hypothesis, documents published in the public domain were analyzed, including statistical data on export-import operations in the pharmaceutical market between Russia and Hungary. In general, it was proved that at the present stage of development of the pharmaceutical market of the Russian Federation, it is important to support the creation and functioning of strategic alliances, which will strengthen Russian positions not only in the domestic market, but also in the international market. Thus, the Russian Federation should actively develop and support the development of localized strategic alliances using various methods, which will increase the share of domestic biotechnologies and ensure their export.

This study sought to examine the effect of strategic alliances on competitiveness of supermarkets in Nairobi. The study’s objectives were to establish the effects of innovation, financing, and distribution strategic alliances on the competitiveness of supermarkets in Nairobi. The study used case study research design. The population of the study was 95 branch managers of the 7 major supermarkets in Nairobi. Both stratified and simple random sampling were used to pick a sample of 77 branch managers. Questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses. Diagnostic tests were also used to test reliability of regression model. The study found that innovation alliances (? = 0.790, p < 0.05); distribution alliance (? = 0.009, p < 0.05) and financing strategic alliances (? = 0.920, p < 0.01) had a significant effect on the competitiveness of supermarkets. However, challenges such as lack of top management commitment derailed competitiveness. The study concluded that innovation strategy had a positive significant relationship with the competitiveness of the supermarkets. It concludes that, by entering into financing strategy, an increase in the competitiveness of the supermarkets was realized. Furthermore, it concluded that distribution strategic alliance had a positive significant relationship with the competitiveness of the supermarkets. The study concludes that despite formation of strategic alliances, various supermarkets were still exposed to a myriad of top management challenges. The study recommends that the supermarkets should ensure that innovation strategy with various partners is improved. This can be achieved through engagement with partners that have embraced modern technologies such as ‘electronic point of sale’ (EPOS). It is suggested that financing alliances should also be improved by engaging with partners that have stable capital. Through formation of financial strategic alliance with firms with good financial muscles, exposure to financial risks can be minimized. This research proposes that all the supermarkets should ensure that measures are put in place to improve distribution strategic alliances to minimize business differences with partners. Measures such as, knowing how partners operate, how they make certain distribution decisions, and how they allocate resources during distribution could go a long way in enhancing product distribution. Finally, it recommends that the top management should be able to offer timely financial and administrative support to realize the dream of engaging in strategic alliances. The organizations should also be able to streamline legal and regulatory operational policies with partners so as to benefit from the formed strategic alliances. Keywords: Innovation Strategic Alliances, Financing Strategic Alliances, Distribution Strategic Alliances, Top Management Support & Competitiveness

Based on the basic theory of the formation of enterprise strategic alliance, we made electronic enterprises in Shenzhen as the object of the study to discuss the factors of the formation of strategic alliances from corporate social capital. The main conclusions included three points: first, the formation of strategic alliance should base on building the breadth and depth of corporate social networks, second, the history of mutual trust is the key factor of combining between enterprises, third, the role of cognitive dimension in the formation of strategic alliance is not obvious.

The research paper deals with the formation of new scientific solutions regarding the study of the impact of system management on the strategic development of business entities that operate in modern conditions of growing uncertainty and the number of business risks. The work reveals the relationship between the strategic and system management of the enterprise, and also provides brief characteristics of these two types of management of business entities with the disclosure of the processes of their implementation. The study of strategic alliances as tools of system management in the framework of ensuring the strategic development of enterprises under uncertainty and risk is carried out. Based on the forecast of the dynamics of strategic alliances in the next four years, the use of this system management tool by business entities to ensure their own strategic development has been proved. The factors of formation and development of strategic alliances in the context of ensuring the strategic development of enterprises are identified, which include: phase of the economic cycle; the importance of innovation for business entities; development of the national economy; public policy; interaction of the state with global financial institutions. Particular attention is paid to revealing the interaction of the developed and developing countries with global financial institutions with the identification of trends and problems of such interaction in the context of the impact on the formation and development of strategic alliances as a system management tool.

В статье проводится комплексное исследование особенностей формирования и развития межфирменной кооперации в форме стратегических альянсов. Рассмотрены факторы формирования, финансовая структура и формы координации стратегического альянса. В ходе исследования была раскрыта сущность кооперации; изучены мотивы сочетания сотрудничества и кооперации; освещены теоретические основы и концепции кооперации; проведен анализ базовых барьеров кооперации; рассмотрены примеры сочетания сотрудничества и конкуренции на основе кооперации. Цель статьи — выявить особенности формирования и развития межфирменной кооперации в форме стратегического альянса. В ходе написания статьи использовались такие методы: метод систематизации и обобщения, графический, структурно-логический и аналитический метод исследования. В результате исследования было выявлено, что в качестве одного из способов выживания и повышения конкурентоспособности в современных условиях выступает формирование международных стратегических альянсов. Созданием таких альянсов предполагается сотрудничество между компаниями разных стран и объединение ресурсов для достижения наилучших результатов. Участие в международном стратегическом альянсе позволяет компаниям быстро и с минимальными затратами выйти на мировой рынок, получить доступ к новым знаниям и технологиям, улучшить свою деятельность и повысить уровень конкурентоспособности. Кооперация широко используется для выявления социально-экономических последствий разных форм сотрудничества организаций. Выявлено, что выгоды, получаемые в результате кооперации, являются следствием двух эффектов — эффекта сотрудничества и эффекта конкуренции (конкуренция заставляет создавать или искать наилучшую позицию на рынке, а сотрудничество позволяет улучшить репутацию и компетенцию). The article provides a comprehensive study of the features of the formation and development of intercompany cooperation in the form of strategic alliances. The factors of formation, financial structure and forms of coordination of the strategic alliance are considered. The study revealed the essence of cooperation; studied the motives of the combination of cooperation and cooperation; highlights the theoretical foundations and concepts of cooperation; analysis of the basic barriers to cooperation; examples of the combination of cooperation and competition based on cooperation are considered. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of the formation and development of intercompany cooperation in the form of a strategic alliance. During the writing of the article, the following methods were used: the systematization and generalization method, the graphic, structural-logical and analytical research method. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the formation of international strategic alliances is one of the ways to survive and increase competitiveness in modern conditions. The creation of such alliances involves cooperation between companies from different countries and pooling resources to achieve the best results. Participation in the international strategic alliance allows companies to quickly and at minimal cost enter the world market, gain access to new knowledge and technologies, improve their operations and increase their competitiveness. Cooperation is widely used to identify the socio-economic consequences of various forms of cooperation between organizations. It was revealed that the benefits obtained as a result of cooperation are the result of two effects - the effect of cooperation and the effect of competition (competition forces us to create or search for the best position in the market, and cooperation allows us to improve our reputation and competence). The conclusion about the possibility of using cooperation as a way to resolve possible socio-economic problems in the process of cooperation between companies is substantiated. This suggests that there is a special benefit from the combination of cooperation and access to resources. This study is built around a methodology for building company strategies and developing a network paradigm for building a balanced, efficient and competitive business. The theoretical significance of the article lies in the fact that the results obtained during the study and the conclusions made will be useful for further study of new entrepreneurial concepts and the synergetic theory of firms. The article will be useful not only to scientists and practitioners studying the issues of interaction between organizations at all levels, but also to those who are interested in contemporary problems in the economy and social sphere.

Research on strategic alliance motives has attracted a great attention as firms strive to become market leaders. One critical area is to assess the contribution of these motives to strategic alliance formation. Most studies on alliance motives concentrate on international strategic alliances that involve large or multinational corporations from developed economies. Little research has been done on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), particularly Medium-Sized Enterprises (MEs) from the manufacturing industry in least developed economies like Tanzania. This study reveals the contribution of alliance motives to strategic alliance formation. It seeks to find factors that would be taken into consideration by Tanzania’s medium-sized manufacturing firms before forming strategic alliances. The study finds firms’ views on the motives that would drive their decisions regarding strategic alliance formation. A cross-sectional survey design and multistage probability sampling technique enabled the participation of 398 CEOs from three zones of Tanzania whose views were collected through questionnaires. Through multiple regression analysis, motives related to resource accessibility, competitive advantage, firm’s improvements as well as cost and risk reduction are revealed and found influencing firms’ willingness to form strategic alliances. In order to become market leaders through strategic alliances, manufacturing MEs should consider motives that would influence rivals and other players to collaborate in order to make effective decisions regarding strategic alliances. Nevertheless, competitive business environments must be created by all manufacturing and alliance stakeholders in Tanzania in order to foster effective strategic alliances among manufacturing MEs.

The advancing process of economic globalization and the related increase in market competitiveness compels companies to search for new markets. Internationalisation processes present in all world-economy sectors, including the automotive industry, are manifested in such phenomena as entering into strategic alliances and the change of world corporations production structures. In the world economy, alliances are entered into mainly by high technology enterprises, such as telecommunication, information technology, aviation and automotive industries.In numerous companies, in particular in trans-national ones, there is a tendency to get involved in cooperative activity, carrying out mergers or concluding strategic alliances. Corporate strategic alliances result in the emergence of various space and production links through the creation of network connection systems, organizing world economic space at the same time.Consequently, changes occur in the ownership structure of concerns (concentration of capital), and relocation and delocalization of world production take place.In this context, this article analyses the process of shaping and functioning of the strategic alliance between Nissan and Renault international automotive corporations, as well as presents the benefits of the strategic alliance formed by the mentioned companies.

Strategic alliance has become an important way for enterprises to gain competitive advantage, thus lots of theories to explain strategic alliance appear. Resource-based view starts with the angle of discussing the way to acquire internal heterogeneous resources in enterprises. While enterprises are short of some kind of resources, they are able to acquire external resources in the form of strategic alliance in a network of heterogeneous resources, according to resources leverage principle. While resources are gradually internalized, their utilization effectiveness disappears, thus strategic alliances disband The process of outsourcing and internalization consists in the dynamic process of strategic alliances' evolution correspondingly. This paper presents an explanation of evolution mechanism of strategic alliances based on resources perspective.

This study examines various issues related to the formation of strategic alliances by using the cyclical model of technological change constructed by Tushman & Anderson (1986). Technology cycles offer a useful evolutionary perspective on shaping technology trajectories. The evolution of technology is a result of technological, social and political factors. The four stages in the model include technological variation (stage I), era of ferment (stage II), technology selection (stage III), and technology retention (stage TV). Within each of the four stages, issues related to the formation of strategic alliances - motivations, governance modes, and the selection of partners - are explored. The association between the cyclical model of technological change and the formation of alliances is empirically tested in response to the statement that a missing link exists for empirically validating the model of technology cycles. Specific research questions include: How will the context of cyclical stages of technological change affect the formation of strategic alliances? In other words, will different types of resources and capabilities be most valuable at different stages of technological change? How well does Tushman and Anderson's theory of technology cycles explain technology's impact on the formation of strategic alliances? Data were 594 alliances in the semiconductor industry from the Securities Data Corporation. Findings showed that the model of technological change is a useful framework in studying strategic alliances. More specifically, at the technology variation stage, innovation-driven alliances are the most important motives. Firms lack of promising technologies tend to select firms with promising technologies. Firms with promising technologies tend to select firms with complementary capabilities. At the era of ferment, both innovation- and efficiency-driven alliances for old technologies are the most important motives. Dominant industry players in either the semiconductor industry or other industries surprisingly are not the favorable alliance partners. At the stage of technology selection, manufacturing-type of alliances for new technologies are the most important motives. The more frequently adopted alliance modes are the ones with high control mechanisms and with equity involvement. Partners located either upstream or downstream the focal firm are the most favorable choices. At the technology retention stage, market-driven alliances are the most important motives. However, firms in different industries or established firms in targeted markets are not favorable alliance partners. This study contributes to the literature in two ways: First, it empirically tested the cyclical model of technological change by Tushman and Anderson (1986) and linked the effects of technology cycles with studies on strategic alliances. Second, it empirically validates the argument that certain types of resources are most advantageous under particular technological conditions at various stages of technology cycles. The model provides rich settings to study how firms cope with their technical environment.

Strategic alliances as a source of early-stage seed capital in new technology-based firms

The article considers the preconditions for the formation of strategic alliances as a promising form of corporate integration associations in the dairy industry of Khmelnytsky region. The strategic alliance, as one of the modern forms of inter-firm integration, has been found to be more flexible than clusters or joint ventures and involves a variety of agreements between companies that work together over a period of time to achieve tactical or strategic goals. The types of strategic alliances, their typology are highlighted and it is proved that they are the most attractive type of strategic integration associations of corporate structures. The main types of strategic alliances are integration alliances, pseudo-concentration alliances and complementary alliances. That is, a strategic alliance is a form of inter-firm integration, one of the fastest and most accessible ways to implement a global strategy, a “soft”organizational form of integration of dairy companies, which allows joint activities to maintain legal and economic independence; preparatory, organizational and experimental platform, within which the rational generation of conditions for further unification of partner companies. The main options for the development of strategic alliances in the dairy industry of Khmelnytsky region are proposed. Evaluation criteria and methods of building a matrix for selecting a potential partner for integration and formation of strategic alliances are substantiated. The prospects of dairy enterprises after joining the strategic alliance of dairy producers are as follows: uncertainty in demand for intermediate products is reduced and incentives are created to reduce the cost of raw milk; processing of raw materials is provided; enterprises producing raw milk are getting rid of uncertainty in the markets; there is an opportunity to produce new types of dairy products and expanding markets; the competitiveness of the local dairy industrial complex among other market participants is increasing; growth of economic potential of the enterprises forming a local dairy industrial complex is provided; the effect of economies of scale and the possibility of joint use of production capacity is observed; reduce uncertainty, as well as increase the stability of development, because in long-term relationships with a partner, a former competitor in the dairy market is a combination of experience and resources, the ability to transfer technology, knowledge and experience, joint research and staff training; gaining additional access to the market, where competitors are already operating and there is a stable demand for products of certain brands.

Using fuzzy MCDM to select partners of strategic alliances for liner shipping

The activities of alliances between liner carriers have increased intensively since the last decade, satisfying a whole new requirement of shippers stemmed from the industrial globalization. The development of strategic alliances is very important to the liner industry, especially based on a perspective of the booming market-Asia. For finding co-operative niches, possible disadvantages, successful factors, and the future development of the alliance co-operation, the investigation in this paper focused on members of the CKYH, a potential strategic alliance group with four major carriers in Asia. We employed the Delphi method to conduct two rounds of survey for procuring the consensus opinions of participants among these four companies. Their responses reveal that strategic alliances have become an essential tool for large carriers to extend their service ranges in the global markets. Mutual trust between partners is a cornerstone to ensure the success of alliances, and this tendency will continue to develop for supporting the global requirement of the maritime logistic system.

Military Assistance, the development and training of capacity and capability of foreign security forces, has largely been ignored by the research community, including the security studies research community. Military Assistance, as a tool, creates the possibility of both positive and negative outcomes for both recipient and providing nations, and as such it should be examined within the broader framework of international relations, with regards to the projection and perception of power. This research is timely and important, since Military Assistance is an actively pursued security solution within the international system. With the growth of Military Assistance missions around the world, from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Central African Republic, understanding the dynamics that can create or facilitate successful Military Assistance and its broader implications has become more critical. As a tool of United States foreign policy, Military Assistance missions extend United States power, while at the same time minimizing the risk of protracted United States military involvement. Consequently, reliance on Military Assistance has become the preferred method for pursuing strategic military direction and the development of strategic alliances. This will be explored in two case studies: South Korea and Vietnam. This research study seeks to recognize and define the dynamics of successful Military Assistance missions: more specifically, by defining its role in possibly linking the development of an army and a broader strategic alliance between states. I trace how the creation of capacities and capabilities establishes a more integrated relationship between two states, and acts as a prime process to extrapolate and test an applicable theory that can be used in multiple contexts. The goal of this research is a better understanding of Military Assistance as an international relations tool which can further strategic alliances and American Grand Strategy.

This chapter reviews theories on cooperative arrangements to determine whether they provide insights regarding the phases, factors and outcomes of civil-military cooperation. It provides an overview of the theories reviewed which identify phases in the development of strategic alliances. The identified phases of a theory are clustered under the three main headings, formation phase, operation phase and evolution phase. The chapter also provides the factors derived from a number of theories on strategic alliances. Three factors (flexibility, strate-gic fit, and trust) are considered general factors as they occurred in each phase. A network can construct a unique set of internal and external linkages for each project. A social network can be defined as a set of nodes (e.g., persons, organisations) linked by a set of social relationships (e.g., friendship, the transfer of funds, overlapping membership) of a specified type. Power and centrality play important roles in networks.Keywords: civil-military cooperation; cooperative arrangements; evolution phase; formation phase; operation phase; social network; strategic alliance development