Title: Value creation through strategic alliances: the importance of the characteristics of the partners and the resources brought by them

Authors: Maryam Nasiriyar, Dominique R. Jolly

Addresses: BP 085 – 60, rue Dostoievski, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France. ' BP 085 – 60, rue Dostoievski, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France

Abstract: Motives and objectives for setting an alliance have to be differentiated. Motives such as cost sharing or skill sharing, are reasons why companies want to form an alliance, i.e., they are desirable benefits. Objectives such as entering new markets are strategic outcomes desired by the company. We suggest that alliance benefits and outcomes are affected by the partners| characteristics and the nature of the resources brought in. When the situation is symmetrical, partners accumulate similar resources; when the situation is asymmetrical, partners combine differentiated resources. When congruencies between the pooled resources are high, this allows generating quantitative complementarities; when they are low, there are opportunities for creating qualitative complementarities. Four distinct patterns emerge when combining congruency between resources and congruency between partners. When partners| profiles converge and the pooled resources are similar, alliance motives are such as cost sharing, risk reduction or scale economies. When partners with similar profiles pool different kinds of resources, this opens the door to value creation by combining different streams of knowledge. When partners with different profiles combine similar resources, value creation again results from the cost advantages and scope economies that can be drawn. Finally, when the partners and resources are different, value creation results from interbreeding and symbiotic effects.

Keywords: alliance motivation; partner profiles; resource exchange; value creation; technology marketing; strategic alliances; pooled resources.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2008.021851

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2008 Vol.3 No.4, pp.325 - 341

Published online: 05 Dec 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article