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Alliance formation issues for knowledge‐based enterprises
Author(s) -
Reid Douglas,
Bussiere David,
Greenaway Kathleen
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
international journal of management reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.475
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-2370
pISSN - 1460-8545
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2370.00055
Subject(s) - alliance , absorptive capacity , business , resource (disambiguation) , industrial organization , knowledge management , knowledge acquisition , competition (biology) , organizational learning , dependency (uml) , marketing , computer science , political science , computer network , ecology , software engineering , law , biology
Inter‐firm collaboration among knowledge‐intensive firms is increasing as a result of accelerating competition, falling regulatory barriers and rising customer expectations. Resource dependency theory is used to position knowledge as the key resource for the knowledge‐based enterprise and to examine the suitability of alliances as a mode of knowledge acquisition and exchange, contrasted particularly with merger and acquisition. The alliance and knowledge literatures are reviewed, and particular attention is paid to the critical alliance formation stage. This stage is reviewed against a research model that posits firm performance in knowledge creation arises from a number of factors, including the motivation for an alliance, partner firm characteristics (the ability to develop and sustain valuable resources; absorptive capacity; combinative capability; experience with alliances; and appropriate design for knowledge exchange), the development of operating structures and norms, and the choice of alliance structure. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research..