Alliance Literature Research Articles

Partnering with green start-ups: a vehicle for eco-innovation?

ABSTRACT Established firms are increasingly forming alliances with green start-ups, i.e. newly-started ventures dedicated to eco-innovation. This study explores the rationales for the initiation and continuation of such alliances. We investigate how established firms leverage these alliances to facilitate eco-innovation adoption alongside their pursuit of legitimacy. Findings from a case study on seven alliances focused on food waste reduction initiatives in Italy and Sweden indicate that legitimacy-seeking rationales are predominant during alliance formation. As alliances evolve, they transition into a phase where firms identify opportunities for eco-innovation, while ambitions of capability-building and new revenue creation shape the development of the alliances. This study contributes to eco-innovation and environmental alliance literature by showcasing how the pursuit of legitimacy facilitates established firms’ adoption and implementation of eco-innovation through alliances with green start-ups.

Innovation generation through formalisation and fairness in university – Industry collaboration

Relationships between universities and industry are a source of entrepreneurial activity and innovation. Considering the complexity of university-industry (U–I) collaboration though, the underlying activities require formalisation mechanisms to help overcome ambiguity, mismatched objectives, demands and expectations to ensure joint innovation outcomes. Fairness perceptions have also been found to determine the success of inter-organisational relationships. However, to date fairness has not been explored in stakeholder contexts, such as those prevalent during U–I collaboration. This research extends knowledge on U–I collaboration processes by exploring if formalisation mechanisms increase fairness perceptions and joint innovation outcomes. We adopt a survey methodology to explore the experiences of German professors engaging in U–I collaboration. Our findings identify that formalising U–I collaborations, through mechanisms such as clear procedural guidelines and contracts which agree responsibilities and outcome expectations, leads to enhanced perceptions of fairness and trust. Furthermore, both procedural and distributive fairness were found to increase the positive effect of formalisation on joint innovation outcomes. These findings advance U–I collaboration and strategic alliances literature through identifying the importance of perceived fairness, which is often deemed to be as important as material outcomes and will impact upon join innovation outcomes being achieved. Furthermore, this research proves the positive relationship formalisation has on innovation outcomes.

Driving Social Innovation in Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Markets through International Social Alliances: The Role of Legitimacy

International social alliances—in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) and social enterprises (SEs) collaborate—are a vital source for the development and scaling up social innovations for value creation. Yet, these alliances face significant legitimacy challenges, which are more glaring in bottom-of-the-pyramid markets (BOPMs) within emerging and developing economies owing to weak and underdeveloped formal institutions. Drawing on the legitimacy, institutional, and social alliances literature, we develop a conceptual framework that explains the importance of developing social, institutional, and commercial legitimacy in international social alliances operating in BOPMs. We also explored the challenges faced by international social alliances in BOPMs and the factors that enable MNEs and SEs to build different types of legitimacy. We contribute to international business research by providing an understanding of various legitimacy building strategies enacted by international social alliances based in BOPMs for social value creation.

The effects of knowledge network characteristics on R&D alliance formation

ABSTRACT Firms’ knowledge characteristics shape their research and development (R&D alliance activities). When denoting the characteristics, the alliance literature has exclusively focused on firms’ internal knowledge characteristics, leaving structural properties of their knowledge relatively unexplored. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how firms’ knowledge network characteristics are associated with the propensity to ally. By using 235,024 unique alliance dyads between U.S. semiconductor firms and their potential partners, we examine the effects of two knowledge network characteristics – degree centrality and structural holes – on alliance formation. We further examine the joint effects of the knowledge network characteristics. Our findings reveal the curvilinear relationship between degree centrality and the likelihood of alliance formation. We also find support for the positive joint effects on the likelihood of alliance formation. These findings provide implications for the varying propensity to ally associated with the knowledge network characteristics, i.e. structural positions of a firm’s knowledge elements in the sector-level knowledge network.

Does a patron state's hardline posture reassure the public in an allied state?

How does a great power ally's demonstration of toughness toward a common adversary influence the sense of security among its weaker ally's citizens? The literature on the effects of standing firm against adversaries has significantly evolved in recent years, but empirical evidence is scarce, especially at the mass level. By taking advantage of the unique opportunity of the 2019 North Korea–US Hanoi summit, we examine the conditions under which a powerful alliance partner's firm and uncompromising posture toward a common adversary reassures the citizens of a junior ally. Based on alliance literature, we hypothesize that a patron's hawkish policy reassures its protégé when the protégé fears abandonment more than entrapment and that the more a citizen of the protégé fears abandonment, the more reassuring the patron's hawkish policy is to the individual. Our analysis of online surveys conducted before and after the summit using a quota sample of the Japanese electorate shows that the level of threat perception is significantly lower in the post-summit sample than in the pre-summit one, especially among the respondents who fear abandonment by the US. We thus conclude that President Trump's decision not to compromise with North Korea on its nuclear programs alleviated Japanese citizens’ concerns about US alliance commitments to Japan, improving their security perception. This study is significant in showing that a patron state's policy toward a common adversary can greatly influence the perception of its ally's citizens as well as its government.

Impact of ESG distinctiveness in alliances on shareholder value

Prior research documents that strategic alliances help firms create shareholder value by gaining access to partner’s complementary marketing and technology resources. Apart from these resources, we argue that firms can also access reputational assets of their alliance partner, based on the partner’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. However, the alliance literature overlooks the effect of partner’s ESG performance on shareholder value creation. In the present study, we build on the knowledge differentials logic to propose that deviations in a firm’s ESG-specific knowledge and expertise compared to those of its alliance partner—what we term “ESG distinctiveness”—can affect a firm’s shareholder value. Using data on alliance formation announcements by public U.S. firms between 2003 and 2020, we find that firms gain value from forming alliances with high ESG performance partners. The effect of ESG distinctiveness on shareholder value due to alliance formation is stronger for firms with greater prior partnering experience.

Partnership attributes and partnership success in accounting firms: a conceptual perspective and further directions

Purpose More complexity, less freedom, distrust and a lack of information seem to pose threats to the success of partner relationships in accounting firms, as approximately 70% of business partnerships fail globally, undermining SDG 17. The low competitive intensity in this industry seems not to help the current situation. Yet, the existing strategic alliance (SA) literature have been somewhat sluggish in adequately addressing how partnership attributes (PAs) affect partnership success (PS) and how brand competition (BC) impacts this relationship. In response, this conceptual work addresses the impact of PAs on PS in accounting firms. It further explores the BC conditions under which the PAs–PS connection may be intensified. Design/methodology/approach Incorporating theories and empirics on six distinct topics, this study presents a conceptual model and ten hypotheses that are worth testing in future research. Findings This research finds that PAs will be favourably linked to PS, and this favourable association will be positively moderated by BC such that the PAs–PS connection will be more pronounced if BC within the accounting industry is high than low. Research limitations/implications Further research is needed to empirically test the suppositions made. Also, they could extend the proposed framework to cover other moderators like technological turbulence, market dynamism and government regulation. Practical implications Practical lessons for governments, shareholders, chief executive officers, consultants and other industry players, particularly those who are interested in the success of accounting partnership firms, are deliberated. Originality/value This study demonstrates how PAs and BC interact to foster PS. It also provides a baseline information for upcoming researchers to investigate other external factors under which the PAs–PS connection may be improved.

Right Dance Wrong Partner: CEO Overconfidence and Organizational Knowledge Characteristics in Alliance Partner Selection

Research on CEO overconfidence establishes its important effects on organizational strategy and performance. It can lead CEOs to overestimate their firm's capabilities and inaccurately assess the risk of new actions. Due to these effects, we argue that in need of the access to external knowledge, CEOs exhibiting greater overconfidence are more likely to pursue alliances. We also contribute to this ongoing conversation by linking CEO overconfidence to the suboptimal selection of alliance partners in the pursuit of external knowledge. Specifically, we demonstrate how greater overconfidence leads CEOs to discount organizational characteristics that have been shown to be beneficial in the alliance literature—greater knowledge base, knowledge impact, technology experience, and their own firm's knowledge dependence on potential alliance partners. With empirical tests of a broad sample of firms in healthcare-related industries tracked from 2001 to 2021, our work helps to integrate concepts of CEO overconfidence with the dynamics of partner selection in the knowledge and innovation domain.

Explaining Russia’s Inertia in the Azerbaijan–Armenia Dispute: Reward and Punishment in an Asymmetric Alliance

Russia has been conventionally portrayed in the area studies literature as a close ally of Armenia, although the latter is a subordinate rather than an equal partner. More recent scholarship has focused on Armenia’s dilemma as to whether to align itself with the liberal West or to enhance ties with its former patron. The Armenian foreign policy establishment has demonstrated in political action and discourse a marked preference for Europe’s institutions and political vision. Russia’s neutrality in the recent escalation of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite bilateral security arrangements with Armenia, showed the inherent fragilities of this asymmetric alliance. Drawing on asymmetric alliance literature, this article seeks to explain Russia’s reluctance to involve itself in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute in favour of Armenia and identifies how Russia rewards or punishes its ally, based on its assessment of whether the ‘side payments’ attached to the alliance have been honoured.

Leveraging Complementary Resources through Relational Capital to Improve Alliance Performance under an Uncertain Environment: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Integrating the resource-based theory, the relational view, and the contingency theory, this research advances the strategic alliance literature by providing a theoretical framework that explains alliance outcomes from both the inter-organizational and the external environmental perspectives. Specifically, we analyzed the effect of complementary resources on alliance performance through the mechanism of relational capital in an uncertain environment. We also explored the moderating roles of environmental dynamism and environmental hostility in the indirect relationship between resource complementarity and alliance performance with a moderated mediation model. Based on the empirical evidence from a survey of 210 alliance firms, we found that complementary resources that a firm can access from its strategic alliance motivate it to invest relational capital in the partnership, which in turn improves alliance performance. However, the positive link between resource complementarity and relational capital is attenuated under a highly dynamic environment. More importantly, results of the moderated mediation analysis suggest that the mediating effect of relational capital between resource complementarity and alliance performance is stronger when the environment is less dynamic, but this effect is not moderated by environmental hostility. These findings imply that complementary resources are critical antecedents of alliance performance, yet firms could not leverage the value of complementary resources to achieve alliance success without sound relational mechanisms or the ability to adapt to the uncertain environment.

Disaggregating between- and within-patient effects of ruptures and resolutions on the therapeutic alliance and symptom severity.

The therapeutic alliance is considered a robust predictor of psychotherapy outcome. Ruptures and resolutions in the alliance have been the focus of recent alliance literature. Most previous studies investigated their between-patient effects. We used hierarchical linear models to disaggregate the between- and within-patient effects of ruptures on the alliance from patient- and therapist perspective and symptom severity. Further, the moderating effects of rupture resolutions were analyzed. The sample consisted of 56 patients diagnosed with depressive or anxiety disorders who received 25 ± 3 sessions of integrative cognitive behavioral therapy in the outpatient setting. The observer-rated rupture resolution rating system was applied to all 1st, 8th, 16th and 24th therapy sessions. The alliance quality and symptom severity were assessed using self-report questionnaires after these four sessions. Results showed that a higher intensity of ruptures across treatment was associated with lower alliance ratings from both patient- and therapist perspectives during treatment. After sessions with more intense confrontation ruptures, both reported a weaker alliance. Rupture resolutions significantly moderated the withdrawal rupture effect on the alliance. The results provide meaningful practical implications for therapist feedback and training. They further underline the importance of using appropriate statistical analyses to the data structure and nature of psychotherapy to better understand the role of the alliance, rupture, and repair during therapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

When Friends Are Near Foes: The Choice of Steering Committees to Govern Nonequity Alliances

Knowledge leaking to rivals through alliance partners nearby the rivals has received scant scholarly attention thus far despite the importance of this topic, and it remains unknown as to how to manage this type of risk, hereinafter referred to as the partner-rival co-location risk, in nonequity alliances. This study argues that forming a steering committee can help tackle the risk, and there is a positive relationship between the partner-rival co-location risk and the likelihood of setting up a steering committee in a nonequity alliance; further, this relationship is moderated by two key conditions, i.e. the breadth (alliance scope) and depth (reciprocal interdependence) of interaction between allying firms. Drawing upon the agglomeration, knowledge management, and alliance governance literature, we developed a set of hypotheses and tested them on a sample of 499 nonequity alliances formed between the U.S. pharmaceutical firms (focal firms) and biological firms (partners). Empirical results confirm our conjectures. This research advances the alliance literature significantly and provides important insights for managers.

Emotions, culture intelligence, and mutual trust in technology business relationships

Both scholars and practitioners highlight the critical role of mutual trust in cross-border technology business relationships. Yet the alliance literature has overlooked the role of emotions and cultural intelligence in developing mutual trust. In a cross-sectional survey of 210 technology business relationships, we find that both a partner's expressing and evoking emotional states are positively associated with mutual trust. We also observe that while interaction with cultural intelligence strengthens the relationship of expressing emotional states with mutual trust, awareness of cultural intelligence weakens it. In addition, awareness of cultural intelligence positively moderates the link between evoking emotional states and mutual trust but negatively conditions the link between expressing emotional states and mutual trust. These findings highlight the importance of emotions as organizational capabilities that can help create an exchange environment characterized by open communication and confidence that partners will meet agreed-on obligations.

Alliance performance and subsequent make‐or‐ally choices: Evidence from the aircraft manufacturing industry

AbstractResearch SummaryWe examine how the performance of a firm's prior alliances influences its propensity to persist with the alliance mode or switch to independent operations in the context of new product introductions (NPIs). Drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), we argue that a firm's alliance performance has a U‐shaped effect on its likelihood of undertaking the subsequent NPI independently and that competitive intensity strengthens this U‐shaped relationship. We also predict that firms with above‐aspiration alliance performance are more likely to achieve breakthrough performance in the subsequent NPI if they switch to independence than if they continue to ally. Data on NPIs in the global aircraft manufacturing industry (1944–2000) support our hypotheses. Our study extends the alliance literature and contributes to research on how firm performance influences subsequent strategic choices.Managerial SummaryThe dilemma of whether to continue or exit an alliance or relationship is a common one for individuals, countries, and firms. Our study examines firms' strategic decision to switch to independent operations after having partnered with other firms. Using the aircraft product development context, we show that firms that make such a change in their strategy are the ones that performed either much better or much worse than what they expected. Firms with alliance performance close to their expectations tend to persist with their current strategy. Of the firms that change their strategy, the high performers benefit much more from changing their strategy than low performers. We provide insights regarding when it is preferable for managers to continue to ally or to switch to independence, especially in launching new products.

Cultural communication style and international joint venture contract length

Purpose: Culturally bound communication styles affect the length of verbal and written messages. Legal contracts are no exception. This paper aims to explore the relationship between cultural communication style and the level of written detail in international joint venture (IJV) contracts. Using a database of actual IJV contracts, we empirically test the relationship between the parties’ cultural communication styles, cultural distance, and the textual length of contracts. We apply Edward T. Hall’s high- and low-context communication construct and find that contracts are longer when made between parties of low- and high-context cultures and shorter when both parties come from high-context cultures relative to when both parties are low context. Additionally, we find that the higher the cultural distance in terms of individualism versus collectivism between partners, the shorter the text of the contracts. The results highlight the influence of culture on contract text length and, as such, on contract negotiation and design costs. This article contributes to the culture and strategic alliance literature by going beyond the assumption that low-context culture contracts are longer and high-context culture contracts shorter by testing it empirically.

Effect of Co-branding Strategy Elements on Consumer Attitude and Purchase Intention : A Study in Indonesia

According to brand alliance literature, the compatibility of both brand characteristics in co-branded products will raise consumer positive attitude and purchase intention. Previous researches have explored co-branding strategy between the same sector or complement product character from different sector. However, few researchs have conducted exploration of the co-branding strategy in a different sector with less complement character. This study seeks to construct the value of co-branding strategy influencing female consumer attitude as well as purchase intention where the less-known Indonesian cosmetics brand who invite well-known food brands to create blended characteristics of cosmetic products. Three co-branded products namely Mizzu Cosmetics x Khong Guan Biscuits, Dear Me Beauty x Yupi, Dear Me Beauty x Sasa, Dear Me Beauty x Nissin as the object of research. A total of 358 questionnaires were distributed to female cosmetic consumers aged between 19-41. The proposed research model has been tested using PLS-SEM. The finding highlight prior attitude toward host brand appear weak to influence attitude toward co-branded. However, brand fit could mediate prior attitude toward host brand in influencing atittude toward co-branded. Mediating roles of brand fit, attitude toward co-brand, and post-attitude toward host brand appear important in the element of consumer attitude and purchase intention. A well-known and suitable co-branding partner is needed to give exposure to the co-branded product and provide a spill-over effect for the host brands. This study contribute to add spill-over effect phenomenon in brand alliance literatures.

Interpartner Legitimacy Building for a Multiparty Alliance

Drawing on supply chain collaboration, institutional theory and alliance literatures, we explore how a large buyer builds interpartner legitimacy to gain supplier commitment to a multiparty alliance (MPA). Prior literature offers very little insights into how a buyer builds moral and pragmatic interpartner legitimacy to motivate supplier participation during the formation of a MPA, and the dynamics of the interpartner legitimacy building process during this stage. Interpartner legitimacy is important to consider in this context, as suppliers may not have worked together before or are competitors. We build on rich data sets comprising meeting observations, interviews and archival data. Our study contributes to extant research by deriving a number of buyer actions to build moral and pragmatic interpartner legitimacy. We also shed light on two underexplored areas within the OSCM literature namely the formation stage of supply chain collaboration and collaboration involving multiple suppliers.

Interpersonal relationships, dynamic reinforcement, and alliance performance

The alliance literature has identified common alliance problems, including shirking and conflict among members. This literature has largely focused on structural factors, including governance mechanisms, that promote alliance stability and performance. We use a case study to develop theory focused on mechanisms through which alliances can overcome common problems, developing the concept of “dynamic reinforcement.” We employ a longitudinal case study design of a set of medical groups that formed an alliance in order to pursue a new health care payment program. Data were collected from 2012-18 including documents, phone interviews, and site visits (totaling 8 visits, 80 interviews, 23 meeting observations). Approximately 50% of data were double coded; a single coder coded the remainder. We iteratively analyzed data for emergent themes. The alliance achieved stability in the face of these problems through a process of dynamic reinforcement, whereby formal alliance structures (e.g. committees) and informal organization (e.g. multidimensional bonding and bridging ties) reinforced one another, as formal meetings gave way to a dense web of multidimensional bonding and bridging relationships across member organizations; these relationships then encouraged both continued engagement with the alliance as well as enabled sharing vulnerabilities, engaging in collective problem solving, and negotiation of tension and conflict. Our work uncovers mechanisms through which alliances develop and reinforce a robust informal organization, and complicates views of alliances from dyads of organizations to a web of multidimensional relationships between staff across members.

A Dynamic Relational View of Cross-Sector Collaborations

In this paper, we question how some of the taken-for-granted assumptions from the interorganizational alliance literature apply for collaborations between hybrid partners – i.e., actors with distinctive institutional logics – and that inherently generate positive externalities. Specifically, we look at how the dynamic relational view (Dyer, Singh, & Hesterly, 2018) applies to cross-sector collaborations (CSCs) – i.e., associations between nonprofit, for-profit, and/or public organizations. We offer a framework that details how these hybrid associations’ intrinsic characteristics affect some assumptions of the dynamic model. First, we show that, besides the interdependence of the partners’ resources, both the actors’ different institutional logics and the collaborations’ emphasis on tackling social issues also influence the collaborations’ governance choices. Second, we propose that, for many CSCs, the interdependence and the nature of the partners’ assets will not be the critical factor in deciding the initial investments on either relation-specific assets or knowledge-sharing routines. Instead, the prevalence of an institutional logic will be more relevant to determine these investments. To conclude, we argue that the cross-sector collaborations’ intrinsic characteristics can also accelerate, delay, or compromise the future investments in these sources of competitive advantages and the development of informal governance mechanisms, both critical to creating relational rents. Altogether, we develop a model that provides a temporal explanation for how the nature of cross-sector collaborations affects the development of their drivers of competitive advantages and the generation of relational rents.

The Road to El Dorado – Strategic Alliances as a Tool for Enhancing Firm Legitimacy

Strategic alliances have long been recognized as important tools that firms can utilize to enhance their competitiveness. Much of the literature has emphasized the resource dependence perspective whereby firms partner with one another in order to codevelop new resources and competencies. However, the literature has also begun to recognize that firms may form alliances for reasons beyond resource access. Legitimacy represents an important, yet understudied, consequence of alliance formation. In this paper, we investigate the legitimacy outcomes of strategic alliance formation. We find that an inverted-U relationship exists between the number of alliances formed and normative legitimacy as measured by media perceptions. We also show that status asymmetry along with the overarching environmental context of alliance formation itself also serve as important moderators of the alliance formation and legitimacy relationship. In conducting this study, we expand upon the institutional perspective of alliance formation and contribute to the broader alliance literature by examining the legitimacy-based outcomes of alliance formation.