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Strategic Alliance Formation and Structural Configuration

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  • Haiying Lin
  • Nicole Darnall

Abstract

While previous research considering the emergence of strategic alliances has typically viewed their formation through a single theoretical lens, we suggest that multiple theoretical perspectives are needed to understand their complexity. This research conceptually integrates the resource-based view and institutional theory to assess variations in firm-level motivations to form strategic alliances. Applying these ideas to the context of complex environmental problems, we propose that strategic alliances typically are either competency- or legitimacy-oriented, and that four structural dimensions characterize both types of alliances—organization learning, partner diversity, governance structure, and partner relations. We present research propositions that describe how alliances differ along these dimensions, and offer an important broader perspective on alliance formation that is applicable towards understanding their strategic and social outcomes. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Haiying Lin & Nicole Darnall, 2015. "Strategic Alliance Formation and Structural Configuration," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 549-564, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:127:y:2015:i:3:p:549-564
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2053-7
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    6. Lea Stadtler & Haiying Lin, 2019. "Leveraging Partnerships for Environmental Change: The Interplay Between the Partnership Mechanism and the Targeted Stakeholder Group," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 869-891, February.
    7. Riandita, Andra, 2022. "To collaborate and innovate for sustainability: Food retailers and their external partners," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    8. Andrejs Čirjevskis, 2021. "Exploring Critical Success Factors of Competence-Based Synergy in Strategic Alliances: The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Strategic Alliance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-22, August.
    9. Belén Payán‐Sánchez & Miguel Pérez‐Valls & José Antonio Plaza‐Úbeda & Diego Vázquez‐Brust, 2022. "Network ambidexterity and environmental performance: Code‐sharing in the airline industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1169-1183, March.
    10. Bai, Bingfeng, 2022. "Strategic business management for airport alliance: A complex network approach to simulation robustness analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 606(C).
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    13. Antony I. Jongwe & Peter W. Moroz & Moses Gordon & Robert B. Anderson, 2020. "Strategic Alliances in Firm-Centric and Collective Contexts: Implications for Indigenous Entrepreneurship," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-31, April.
    14. Gonzalo R. Llanos-Herrera & Nelson A. Andrade-Valbuena, 2017. "Review and Support of the Relationship between Alliance Competence and Alliance Orientation," Revista Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Tecnología (GECONTEC), Revista Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Tecnología (GECONTEC), vol. 5(2), pages 77-92, October.
    15. Maria Riegler & Anna M. Burton & Markus Scholz & Katharina de Melo, 2023. "Why companies team up for sustainable development: Antecedents of company engagement in business partnerships for sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4767-4781, November.
    16. Chunyang Han & Amjad Pervez & Jingqiong Wu & Xiaojing Shen & Dezhi Zhang, 2020. "Home-Delivery-Oriented Agri-Food Supply Chain Alliance: Framework, Management Strategies, and Cooperation Stability Control," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-34, August.

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