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Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances
Author(s) -
Hamel Gary
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.4250120908
Subject(s) - alliance , competition (biology) , general partnership , competence (human resources) , business , industrial organization , marketing , economics , management , political science , ecology , law , biology , finance
Global competition highlights asymmetries in the skill endowments of firms. Collaboration may provide an opportunity for one partner to internalize the skills of the other, and thus improve its position both within and without the alliance. Detailed analysis of nine international alliances yielded a fine‐grained understanding of the determinants of interpartner learning. The study suggests that not all partners are equally adept at learning; that asymmetries in learning alter the relative bargaining power of partners; that stability and longevity may be inappropriate metrics of partnership success; that partners may have competitive, as well as collaborative aims, vis‐à‐vis each other; and that process may be more important than structure in determining learning outcomes.