Alliance Portfolio Configuration Research Articles

Heterogeneity, diversity and complementarity in alliance portfolios

The divergence that a firm manages to achieve because of its partners is a fundamental question in an alliance portfolio configuration. Diversity can refer not only to the differences between the focal firm and its partners or between the partners themselves but also to the differences arising from various resource endowments in the alliance portfolio. Understanding the significance of these different sources, how they interrelate, and how they affect the firm performance is an unresolved question as unclear definitions and opposing arguments are proposed. This paper expounds the concepts of partner heterogeneity, alliance portfolio diversity, and network resource complementarity to gain a deeper comprehension of the alliance portfolio configuration and how it affects performance. Our analysis of airline alliances at a global level reveals the central role of resource complementarity in the focal firm performance.

Resource ambidexterity through alliance portfolios and firm performance

Research summary: Partner resources can be an important alternative to internal firm resources for attaining dual and seemingly incompatible strategic objectives. We extend arguments about managing conflicting objectives typically made at the firm level to the level of a firm's alliance portfolio. Specifically, will a balance between revenue enhancement and cost reduction attained collectively through partner resources accessed via a firm's various alliances be similarly beneficial for firm performance? Additionally, how do strategic attributes of alliance portfolio configuration, specifically alliance portfolio size and partner resource scope, condition the balance‐performance relationship? Based on data from the global airline industry, we find support for the balance‐performance relationship, though such balance is less beneficial for firms in the case of access to a broader resource scope per partner.Managerial summary: Increasing revenue and reducing costs simultaneously can potentially enhance firm competitiveness. We highlight that an alliance strategy can be an important alternative to internal resources for attaining such dual strategic objectives, particularly when partner resources accessed through alliances are treated collectively as portfolios. We examine the importance of balancing product‐market extending and efficiency‐improving partner resources in the global airline industry as well as the impact of two alternate strategies for accessing resources through alliances: fewer partners with more resources per partner or more partners with fewer resources per partner. We find that resource balance at the portfolio level helps airlines improve performance. Our results also suggest that managers should be cautious of accessing too many resources through just a few partners. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How Does the Look Respond To the Inside?-Examining Three Drivers of Alliance Portfolio Configuration

Aiming at investigating the mechanism that influence the alliance portfolio configuration we apply a two-dimensional typology that incorporates both alliance attributes and partner attributes to de...

Alliance Portfolio Configuration: A Review of the Multidimensional Concept

This article reviews extant literature on alliance portfolio configuration to synthesize various conceptualizations of the multidimensional concept. We identify various dimensions of the concept. We link these dimensions to the theoretical perspectives undertaken by researchers. Moreover, we present the findings of the studies that examine antecedents and consequences of these dimensions. Our study contributes the alliance portfolio literature by systematically reviewing each dimension of the multidimensional concept ‘alliance portfolio configuration’ (APC). We believe our review will add to the extant understanding of APC and its implications on firm performance.

Configuration and Development of Alliance Portfolios: A Comparison of Same-Sector and Cross-Sector Partnerships

Management of different types of partnerships plays a decisive role in company performance. Complex business ventures, such as those created to serve low-income populations, usually include both cross- and same-sector partnerships. However, the initial diversity featured in these alliance portfolios diminishes as companies take their ventures up to scale. This article develops theoretical propositions about the evolution and configuration patterns of portfolios that include both cross- and same-sector partnerships. Two longitudinal case studies serve to illustrate the theoretical framework developed for alliance portfolios that include both types of partnerships. Companies that create such portfolios adopt partnership strategies that follow paths also identified in the evolution of portfolios only made up of partnerships with other private firms: i.e., an evolution from adapting to shaping and exploiting strategies.

The dimensions of alliance portfolio configuration: A mediation model

AbstractOur paper contributes to progress on the conceptualization and the operationalization of the alliance portfolio configuration. A variance-based structural equation modeling (partial least squares) has been applied to a sample made up of top global contractors. Previous works on alliance portfolio have analyzed the dimensions of alliance portfolio configuration independently and therefore, the interrelationships between them have not been studied. Results from the data analysis show that the dimensions of alliance portfolio configuration are interrelated in such a way that the relational and the partner alliance portfolio dimensions (a) fully mediate the effect of structural alliance portfolio on the value of the alliance portfolio capital; and (b) this capital exerts significant and positive influences on the growth of the international market share.

Technological alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance

Firms pursuing technological alliances to gain competitive advantages have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business environment. This article examines which technological alliance portfolio configuration is better for focal firm performance using a portfolio rather than a dyadic perspective. To assess technological alliance portfolio effects on Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, we adopted three explanatory variables—number of alliances, number of partners, and spanning structural holes. The growth rate of revenue and the growth rate of profit are used as dependent variables. We identify two characteristics of technological alliance portfolios from the two-step generalized method of moments estimates. First, we find that between two firms with the same number of alliances, the firm with the larger number of partners would have a better performance. This result is unlike those in previous studies because it distinguishes between the number of alliances and number of partners based on the network theory. Second, we find that spanning structural holes affects firm performance rather like a double-edge sword—it positively affects the growth rate of profit but negatively affects the growth rate of revenue of firms. In short, spanning structural holes is simultaneously beneficial for firm profitability and unfavorable for firm growth. This result differs from those of earlier studies because it shows that a firm spanning structural holes among alliance partners produces either a positive or a negative effect, suggesting that a firm should vary its strategy depending on whether it prioritizes profitability or growth.

Alliance Portfolio Configurations and Competitive Action Frequency

We advance competitive dynamics research by introducing alliance portfolio configuration as an important antecedent of competitive action frequency. We propose and test a model for developing effective alliance portfolio configurations that enhance a firm’s ability to discover, conceptualize, and carry out new competitive actions. Our model consists of three overlapping components: (a) opportunity recognition capacity as evidenced by the portfolio attribute of structural holes, (b) opportunity development capacity as indicated by R&D alliance scope, and (c) action execution capacity as exhibited by equity alliances with trusted partners. We hypothesize and find a multiplicative effect of the configuration of all three alliance portfolio attributes on the frequency of competitive actions carried out by 12 large global automobile manufacturing firms with 1,471 unique partners and 37,520 alliances formed over a 16-year period (1988 to 2003). The three-way configuration of portfolio attributes was stronger for more complex competitive actions requiring more time, expertise, and resources to develop and execute.

Dynamic evolution of alliance portfolios

This research advances in the conceptualization and the operationalization of the factors or microdynamics that determine the choice of partners. Most of the literature in this area of research has centered on the individual alliance without taking into account the set of alliances that a firm makes. This research applies a holistic approach, analyzing the set of alliances as a whole and points to the factors related to alliance portfolios that affect the choice of partners. The authors propose a longitudinal model that allows us to analyze the evolution of interorganizational networks. A Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis (SIENA) has been applied to a sample of 229 firms, analyzing 10,556 strategic alliances established between them over a 12year period. The results show that certain factors over which managers exercise a degree of control (deliberate endogenous microdynamics) exert significant influences on the choice of partners by the focal actor and thereby on the dynamic configuration of alliance portfolios.

Vertical integration, innovation, and alliance portfolio size: Implications for firm performance

We examine the consequences of alliance portfolio configuration by focusing on contingencies that affect the impact of alliance portfolio size on innovation and financial performance. While increasing alliance portfolio size is expected to positively impact innovation and financial performance, we propose that, at high levels of innovation of the focal firm, increasing alliance portfolio size dampens financial performance. We also propose that firm boundaries moderate the impact of alliance portfolio size on innovation and financial performance differently. Specifically, vertically integrated firms benefit less (more) than their vertically specialized counterparts in leveraging higher innovation (financial) performance with increasing alliance portfolio size. Our analysis suggests that both vertical scope and innovation levels of the firm play an important role in understanding how alliance portfolios impact performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Alliance portfolio R&D intensity and new product introduction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether alliance portfolio R&D intensity contributes to biopharmaceutical firms' number of new product approvals and whether alliance portfolio R&D intensity is more positively related to the number of new product approvals for pharmaceutical firms than for biotechnology firms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a random effects Poisson regression model using panel data of 821 firm year observations for 146 biopharmaceutical firms operating in the USA. The robustness of results is also checked with additional analysis, provided in an appendix.FindingsThe results of this study show that the R&D intensity of firms' alliance portfolios is positively related to their new product introductions. It is also found that alliance portfolio R&D intensity has a more positive impact on the pharmaceutical segment of the industry's new product introductions than those of the biotechnology segment.Originality/valueThe authors develop and test theory about how the combined effects of two dimensions of alliance portfolio configuration (size and relationship strength) positively impact new product development. The authors propose a two dimensional alliance portfolio configuration measure, alliance portfolio R&D intensity. They combine the number of R&D alliances relative to the total number of alliances in the portfolio with the differential strength of ties associated with resource commitments required to source information from upstream and downstream alliances.

Interfirm collaboration in a cultural context: insight from the research on the ICT industry in Poland

In the global ICT industry, an explosion of alliances has been observed. This study aims to analyse the interfirm collaboration phenomenon in the ICT firms in Poland. Previous studies show that unlike in developed countries, interfirm collaboration in Poland is not a common way of firms’ development. The reasons may be inherent in the environment, including socio-cultural setting. This study explores all stages of the formation and management of firms’ alliances on the sample of 140 firms, and their alliance portfolios. A mixed methods approach was chosen, comprising of a literature review, quantitative analysis, in depth interviews with top managers, as well as interviews consultations with several experts. The study complements and extends existing literature in the area of alliance portfolio phenomenon by providing empirical evidence of emergence, configuration, and management of alliance portfolios.

A Modularity View of Alliance Portfolio Configuration and Organizational Ambidexterity

I develop a modularity view of alliance portfolio configuration and organizational ambidexterity, or the simultaneous pursuit of exploitative and exploratory innovation. Drawing from the conceptual...

Alliance Portfolios: A Review and Research Agenda

The engagement of firms in multiple simultaneous strategic alliances with different partners has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business landscape. This article offers a review of the extant alliance portfolio literature and organizes it around three key research areas: (a) the emergence of alliance portfolios, (b) the configuration of alliance portfolios, and (c) the management of alliance portfolios. The article also highlights existing gaps in the present understanding of alliance portfolios and outlines a research agenda by identifying key research questions and issues in the areas where further research is needed.