Market orientation and communication methods in international strategic alliances

a r t i c l e i n f o This article discusses factors affecting the success of international strategic alliances, specifically market orientation and communication methods. The study empirically compares market orientation and methods of communication with strategically allied SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in countries with different cultural values (i.e., United States and Korea). The findings indicate that market orientation and communication methods in an international strategic alliance between US and Korean SMEs have distinct differences. For example, the results show that market orientation and communication methods differ according to the number of foreign partners within an alliance and the duration of an alliance. The article highlights some managerial implications that might occur due to the differences between American and Korean SMEs operating an international strategic alliance. A strategic alliance is a collaboration between two or more companies wanting to establish and maintain a cooperative relationship due to complementary capabilities based on core competencies and various activities (Thomas and Trevino, 1993). A recent increase in such partnerships between multinational companies is a notable phenomenon , especially in the area of international business (Kim, 2008). Various factors need consideration to deeply understand how partners' characteristics and specific market conditions impact these alliances due to cross-cultural relationships. In particular, communication methods play a key role in providing products and services while accurately identifying the mutual demands and benefits (Mohr and Nevin, 1990); both activities are very important when a strategic alliance merges across countries. The degree to which a company is market oriented impacts the communication within or between firms as well. Such firms that create strategic alliances depend on market information pertaining to present and future customer needs to be successful (Jaworski and Kohli, 2000). For that, a study is necessary to address the questions of how to manage different factors within an international strategic alliance. Despite the importance of market orientation and communication methods, very few strategic alliance studies focus on these issues. Research on international strategic alliances includes both theoretical and empirical studies. However, most empirical studies in this stream of research utilize case studies to examine what factors influence the outcome of a strategic alliance. These studies suggest management implications on creating successful alliances through applying the factors (Brouthers et al. However one limitation of case studies includes the inability of clearly verify relationship effects between variables. More sophisticated empirical analysis is necessary to provide …