Publication
Title
Strategic alliance structures : an organization design perspective
Author
Abstract
While strategic alliances have emerged in recent years as common and important structural vehicles for business development, surprisingly little is known about how collaborative activities are organized and administered within these governance structures. We see classic organizational scholarship as useful insofar as it both provides clear classifications that distinguish alternative intraorganizational designs and explicates how they affect the inner workings of organizations. Existing alliance classification schemes based on type of collaborative activity, partner characteristics, or legal structure, on the other hand, rarely delineate important differences of how collaborative work is organized among partners. We seek to redress this shortcoming by developing a framework of alliance structural parameters based on classic organizational design considerations. Specifically we identify and discuss five key design parameters for alliances: the structural interface between partners, the structural intraface within partners, and the specialization, formalization, and centralization of the alliance organization. We show how consideration of these five parameters provides a deeper understanding of alliance governance and suggest how partner organizations can achieve differential levels of connectivity and steering for their collaborative ventures.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journal of management / Southern Management Association [Lubbock, Tex.] - Lubbock, Tex., 1975, currens
Publication
Lubbock, Tex. : 2016
ISSN
0149-2063 [print]
1557-1211 [online]
DOI
10.1177/0149206313488209
Volume/pages
42 :3 (2016) , p. 582-614
ISI
000370062500002
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 03.03.2016
Last edited 22.02.2023
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