Situation Analysis Report

Faced with the challenge of turbulent markets and changing consumer tastes and preferences, organizations are increasingly using global strategic alliances in an effort to secure commercial advantage and eliminate waste from their distribution channels (Wu, Shih, & Shan, 2009). These alliances use global virtual innovation teams that cross national borders and help to create and enhance the alliance's competitive position. Organizations are no longer isolated islands; they need to collaborate with one another—including with competitors—in order to survive (Bengtsson, Eriksson, & Wincent, 2010; Ybarra & Turk, 2011). Alliances enable organizations to obtain needed technical and managerial knowledge, to secure valuable resources (Muthusamy & White, 2005), and to enhance organizational innovation (Ahuja, 2000). Alliances enable interorganizational knowledge exchange; member organizations gain access to unavailable knowledge and may accelerate their innovation process and enhance their competitive advantage. Global virtual teams are at the core of any knowledge exchange. These teams capitalize on their diverse knowledge and talent pool to leverage their organization's global new-product development efforts (Salomo, Keinschmidt, & de Brentani, 2010). However, while global virtual teams have their advantages, managing them can be a challenge as they operate across time, space, and corporate boundaries, and because their communication is primarily electronic (Montoya, Massey, Hung, & Crisp, 2009).

References

Ahuja, G. (2000). Alliance networks, structural holes, and innovation: A longitudinal study. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 425-455. Retrieved from http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Administrative-Science-Quarterly.aspx

Bengtsson, M., Eriksson, J. & Wincent, J. (2010). Co-opetition dynamics – an outline for further inquiry. Competitiveness Review, 20(2), 194–214. doi: 10.1108/10595421011029893

Montoya, M. M., Massey, A. P., Hung, Y. C., & Crisp, C. B. (2009). Can you hear me now? Communication in virtual product development teams. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 26(20), 139–155. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5885.2009.00342.x

Muthusamy, S. K., & White, M. A. (2005). Learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances: A social exchange view. Organization Studies, 26(3), 415–441.

Salomo, S., Keinschmidt, E. J., de Brentani, U. (2010). Managing new product development teams in a globally dispersed NPD program. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(7), 955–971.

Wu, W. Y., Shih, H., & Chan, H. (2009). The analytic network process for partner selection criteria in strategic alliances. Expert System with Applications, 36(3), 4646–4653. doi: 10.1016/j.eswa.2008.06.049

Ybarra, C. E. & Turk, T. A. (2011). Strategic alliances with competing firms and shareholder value. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 6, 1–10. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/jmmr.html