The evolution of alliances in the global airline industry: A review of the African experience

In an increasingly globalized world, alliances have proliferated in one industry after another, and the competitive game has shifted from firm versus firm to group versus group, leaving many firms operating on the margins of these constellations. Using the case of the global airline industry, this article examines how the shift from bilateral to multilateral alliances has left many African airlines operating on the margins of the global airline alliances groupings. We conjecture that a number of internal organizational factors, such as size and lack of access to scarce resources, and external factors, such as a slow market‐reform process and insufficient reform of state‐owned airlines, have hindered their success in a highly competitive environment. The theoretical, managerial, and policy implications of these findings are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.