Strategic Alliances: A Synthesis of Conceptual Foundations

Abstract

Strategic alliances, a manifestation of interorganizational cooperative strategies, entails the pooling of specific resources and skills by the cooperating organizations in order to achieve common goals, as well as goals specific to the individual partners. Gaining access to new markets; accelerating the pace of entry into new markets; sharing of research and development, manufacturing, and/or marketing costs; broadening the product line/filling product line gaps; and learning new skills are among the motives underlying the entry of firms into strategic alliances. During the last decade, an increasing number of firms have entered into alliances with other firms within the same industry, as well as within other industries. Some firms have progressed well beyond forming isolated alliances to establishing a web of intra- and interindustry, and intra-and international strategic alliances. Against this backdrop, we provide a synthesis of the conceptual foundations of strategic alliances and explore the role of marketing in strategic alliances.