Title: Excessive resource control and strategic alliance failure

Authors: Allison D. Watts, Robert D. Hamilton III

Addresses: Department of General and Strategic Management, Fox School of Business & Management, Temple University, Speakman Hall, Room 380, 1810 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122–6083, USA. ' Department of General and Strategic Management, Fox School of Business & Management, Temple University, Speakman Hall, Room 380, 1810 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122–6083, USA

Abstract: The use of domestic and international strategic alliances to develop new technologies continues to grow despite the high numbers of strategic alliance failure. While opportunism, trust, and perceived control are all noted by researchers as a basis for choosing among various types of alliance arrangements, control issues within ongoing alliances have been under-researched. We propose that partners in non-equity technology alliances control their contributions to the partnership and, depending on the level of trust between the partners, may choose to restrain their resource contributions. This paper fuses resource dependency theory with trust literature to explain how antecedent conditions and resource control can increase the risk of failure in international strategic alliances. From a managerial perspective, understanding these causes, and altering their behaviour accordingly, will reduce the firm|s likelihood of alliance failure and enhance the technological cooperation necessary for strategic success.

Keywords: international strategic alliances; resource control; resource dependency theory; RDT; trust; technology management; failure risks; technological cooperation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIP.2007.015649

International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 2007 Vol.3 No.2, pp.157 - 173

Published online: 06 Nov 2007 *

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