Electronic Alliances: Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage

While several studies have examined the role of strategic alliances in outsourcing, as a way to manage the client-vendor relationship, no systematic attempt has been made to integrate the knowledge from the strategic management literature. The study contributes to this line of research, by developing a framework that weaves the Relational-Theory View with the outsourcing literature. This synthesis leads to the proposition that the more an outsourcing alliance meets the conditions of Relational-Theory, the higher the rent generating potential for the partners. Specific scenarios are generated based on the strategic value of the considered process, as well as the existence and the visibility of the appropriate capability.