Several typologies of strategic alliances are available in business literature.
Typology of Strategic
Alliances
Several typologies of strategic alliances are
available in business literature. One such classification is by Yoshino and
Rangan. This is a two-dimensional model with the two dimensions being, the
extent of organizational interaction and conflict potential between alliance
patterns. The classification is shown in Figure 10-1.
Pro-Competitive Alliances
These are generally alliances within the industry
exemplified by vertical value-chain relationships between manufactures and
their suppliers and distributors. Such relationships are advantageous to both
parties. Supplier and buyer organizations entering upon long-term contracts
constitute pro-competitive alliances. Noncompetitive Alliances
These are partnerships within the industry. Such alliances
are entered upon by organizations that operate in the some industry yet do not
perceive each other’s as rivals. This can be because their areas of activity do
not coincide and/or their products and services are sufficiently dissimilar to
prevent competition. Organizations that have carved out distinct areas in the
industry geographically or otherwise, adopt the noncompetitive alliances. For
example, a number of automotive manufacturers in Europe have entered into a
strategic alliance for engine development.
Competitive Alliances
These are relationships that bring rival
organizations in a cooperative arrangement. These alliances may be intra –industry
or inter-industry. For
example Coca-Cola entered into an agreement with Parle Products, the
manufacturers of Thumps Up their main competitors in western India. Pre-competitive Alliances
These partnerships bring two organizations from
different, often unrelated industries to work on well-defined activities. This
is often seen in activities such as, mass awareness campaigns or environmental
and social issues. Sometimes inter industry and inter disciplinary cooperation
is necessary for development.For
example, Intel has pre-competitive alliances with software, hardware and other
manufacturers. Continuum of Alliances
The types of alliances range from mutual consortia
to value chain partnerships as described below. 1. Mutual service consortia- A mutual service
consortium is a partnership of similar companies in similar industries who pool
their resources to gain a benefit that is too expensive to develop alone, such
as access to advanced technology. For example, IBM of the United States,
Toshiba of Japan, and Siemens of Germany formed a consortium to develop new
generations of computer chips. 2. Joint venture – A joint venture is a “cooperative
business activity formed by 2 or more separate organizations for strategic
purposes, that creates an independent business entity and allocates ownership,
operational responsibilities, and financial risks and rewards to each member,
while preserving their separate identity autonomy. 3. Licensing arrangement – A licensing arrangement is
an agreement in which the licensing firm grants rights to another firm in
another country or market to produce and / or sell a product. The licensee pays
compensation to the licensing firm in return for technical expertise. 4. Value-chain partnership – The Value-chain
partnership is a strong and close alliance in which one company or unit forms a
long-term arrangement with a key supplier or distributor for mutual advantage.
Forms of Alliances in India
A statistical sample of different strategic
alliances in India with number of companies in different alliances and their
percentage is listed in Table 10-2.
After liberalization, JVs are less since MMCs can
set up a 100% subsidiary after 1991. Therefore Indian market is witnessing
breaking up of joint ventures. On the other hand, Indian firms are going for JV
abroad for reasons like. 1. Source of
learning and development 2. Access to
better infrastructure
3. Access to
greater market share 4. Availability
of raw materialsDelta Industries took over Netherlands Jute
Industries (NJI) in 1994 which led to cost effective production in the country
with advanced technology. Several alliances such as TVS-Sujuki, Mahindra-Ford,
BPL-Sanyo and Videocon- Sansui have withstood the test of the time. Ranbaxy
went into a strategic alliance with Eli Lilly of the US to realize its mission
of becoming a research based international and pharmaceutical company.The opening up of infrastructure sector in India
led to forming of a number of alliances. 1. The telecommunications sector has witnessed the
coming together of several local and global firms such as Crompton Greaves and
Millicom, the SPIC group and Telstra, Max (GSM) and Brtisih Telecom, Usha
Martin and Telecom Malaysia, among several others. 2. The roads and highways sector has created
conditions for several global giants joining hands with reputed Indian
companies like the alliances of Unitech and Hyndai, Engineering and
Constructions, THC India and Trafalgar House International, Tarmat and Samsung,
and others. Liberalization and globalization have spurred the
growth of strategic alliances. A good example of synergetic benefits arising
out of a strategic alliance is that of Taj Hotels and British Airways, where
both create advantages for each other through complementarities of airline and
hotel services. Besides this, other reasons, which lead to
strategic alliances, are the availability of professional management expertise,
international reputation, global brand name and brand equity, and confidence to
gain a foothold in the international markets. Alliances are often used by not- for- profit
organization as a way to enhance their capacity to serve clients or to acquire
resources while still enabling them to keep their identity services can be
provided efficiently through cooperation with other organizations them if they
are done alone.
Four Ohio
Universities agreed to start a new school of international business at a cost
of $ 30 million. This cannot be done singly.
Tags : Strategic Management - Strategy Formulation
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