Purpose – The paper seeks to propose a framework for examining the dynamics of learning in the various stages of alliance development. Design/methodology/approach – The three kinds of learning in alliances are described – namely, content, partner-specific, and alliance management – and the saliences and implications of particular types of learning in different alliance stages are discussed. Fin...

Although trust has been given much attention in alliance literature as an explanatory factor, little research has been devoted to defining and operationalizing trust. Trust is more or less seen as a magic ingredient, poorly understood much like the concept of luck, and usually attributed ex post; successful alliances seem to involve trust; unsuccessful alliances do not. The extant literature ha...

Supply chains are beginning to displace firms as the competitive entity in the global marketplace. Managed supply chains offer the promise of added value through proactive cooperative efforts among participating firms. However, as a strategic alliance, managed supply chains represent a form of social dilemma: supply chain alliances may fail because participating firms fear opportunistic behavio...

Through articles on the integration of technology into a wide range of business process, the issue makes clear how essential technology has become for organizational success. Included in this issue are articles showing the power of technology to facilitate manufacturing, project management, collaboration, inventory control, organizational relationships, and strategic planning. Each article prov...

I examine how firms use alliances to respond to the alliance networks of their rivals, by either allying with their rivals’ partners or by building countervailing alliances. Evidence from the global airline industry (1994–98) suggests that these strategic responses depend on alliance cospecialization. Cospecialized alliances by rivals may involve exclusivity, precluding alliances with the rival...

This article uses rough set theory for stability evaluation system of strategic alliance at first. Uses data analysis method for reduction, eliminates redundant indexes. Selected 6 enterprises as a decision-making unit, then select 4 inputs and 2 outputs indexes data, using DEA model to calculate, analysis reasons for poor benefit of decision-making unit, find out improvement direction and quan...

We extend real options research by introducing the concept of collective real options and model how collective real options provide strategic alliances a mechanism to manage social uncertainty. Collective real options manage social uncertainty by producing relational small wins that develop trust. The amount of trust developed by acquiring a collective real option depends on the exposure of all...