MBA 640 Conduct a Research

11/23/2020 Strategic Alliances

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Strategic Alliances

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

Learning Topic

11/23/2020 Strategic Alliances

https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tgs/mba/mba640/2208/learning-topic-list/strategic-alliances.html?ou=516043 2/2

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

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