|
|
|
|
|
|
Lesson#29
|
INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
|
|
|
|
INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
Cooperation between international firms can take many forms, such as
licensing of proprietary
technology, sharing of production facilities, co-funding of research
projects and marketing of each
other’s products using existing distribution networks.
These forms of cooperation are known collectively as
strategic alliances –
business arrangements
where two or more firms choose to cooperate for their mutual benefit
A Strategic Alliance is therefore, a mutually beneficial
long-term formal relationship formed between
two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a
critical business need while
remaining independent organizations. It is a synergistic arrangement whereby
two or more organizations
agree to cooperate in the carrying out of a business activity where each
brings different strengths and
capabilities to the arrangement.
Strategic alliances bring enterprises the following benefits:
• Increase in capital for research and product development and yet
lower risk (Innovation)
• Decrease in product lead times and life cycles (time pressures)
• Ability to bring together complementary skills and assets that
neither company could easily
develop on its own
• Access to knowledge and expertise beyond company borders
(technology transfer)
• Rapidly achieve scale, critical mass and momentum (Economies of
Scale - bigger is better)
• Expansion of channel and international market presence (enter a
foreign market)
• Building credibility in the industry and brand awareness
• Providing added value to customers
• Establishing technological standards for the industry that will
benefit the firm
Strategic alliances come in all shapes and sizes, and include a wide range
of cooperation, from
contractual to equity forms.
Impetus for international alliances:
There are a number of factors contributing towards the growing trend of
forging strategic alliances in
international markets.
• Technological
– Rapid technological change exceeds capability of one firm.
– Technological skills/expertise are more widely dispersed throughout
the world than in the past.
– Shorter product life cycles require rapid technological development
– Improved information flow worldwide eases alliance formation
• Managerial
– Leverage expertise of foreign firms in their local markets.
– Tailor products to local needs.
– Growth in acceptance of cooperation.
– Difficult to maintain competitive advantage alone, without a global
perspective.
• Economic / regulatory
– Enjoy global economies of scale
– Open new markets to develop synergies and learning curve benefits.
– Attractive way to utilize excess capacity given slower growth in
domestic markets.
– Local content laws and other countertrade measures firms to conduct
business with other firms.
• Strategic
– Gain access to otherwise closed markets.
– Take advantage of synergies due to the emergence of products with a
global appeal.
– Share risks of competing in a certain market.
– Retaliate / defend against competitors.
Benefits of strategic alliances:
• Ease of market entry
• Shared risk
• Shared knowledge and expertise
• Synergy and competitive advantage
Scope of strategic alliances:
Comprehensive alliances
– when participating firms agree to collaboratively perform multiple
stages of the process by which
goods and services are brought to the market - such as R&D, design,
production, marketing and
distribution.
Functional alliances
– production alliances
– marketing alliances
– financial alliances
– R&D alliances
Pitfalls of strategic alliances:
There are many reasons that contribute towards the failure of strategic
alliances. International markets
need to avoid the following issues in the cse of forming strategic
alliances;
• Incompatibility of partners
• Issues in having access to each other’s information
• Disagreements over distribution of earnings
• Issues due to potential loss of autonomy
• Changes in motivations due to changing circumstances over time
Management of strategic alliances:
For managing alliances successfully in international markets managers need
to ensue the following;
• Selection of right partners
– compatibility
– nature of the potential partner’s product and services
– the relative risk of the alliance
– the learning potential of the alliance
• Select the right form of ownership of the alliance
• Joint management considerations
– shared management agreement - both partners participate
actively
– assigned arrangement - one partner takes primary
responsibility
– delegated arrangement - all the partners delegate
management to the joint venture’s executives
• Organizational requirements
– setting up a global partnership
– organizational learning
– provision for exit
Right alliance partner selection:
• The selection process
– the selection of a potential partner is the most crucial and
difficult decision the foreign firm will
make, and one which will have long-term ramifications for its future in the
target country
– partner selection is crucial because the foreign firm’s expansion
and strategic success in a country
will depend on the capabilities of the partner, the partner’s willingness to
cooperate, and the
climate of mutual trust which must be allowed to develop between both
– partner selection is difficult because it is usually undertaken at
a time when the experience of the
foreign firm in the target country is limited and when available information
is often unsystematic
and sketchy
– studies have shown that partner selection in Asia Pacific is very
ad hoc and that Western firms
conduct far too little advance planning of the whole process
– this behavior contrasts sharply with the Japanese approach to
foreign markets - as a rule the
representative office of a Japanese company will be established far in
advance of any investment
commitment and will often be staffed with at least one full-time Japanese
expatriate manager,
whose task is primarily to collect information on market opportunities and
potential candidates
for partnership and acquisition
• The selection criteria
– it is difficult to list the features of an ideal foreign country
partner, since these will invariably
depend on the criteria of the international firm
– a strategic fit exists when the long-term objectives or motives of
the partners are compatible - the
most favorable strategic fit occurs when both partners approach the joint
venture with a desire to
build and develop a new business - this is essentially the matching of two
venturing motives
– there is no guarantee that the partners will not experience serious
disagreements within the
venture; neither does it imply that both partners benefit equally from their
joint undertakings, nor
that the partnership is of equal importance to them
– the foreign country partner should be successful in its home
country, but remain open to
initiatives from the international partner - the firm should have good
contacts with authorities,
politically influential but at the same time neutral enough to survive and
manage shifts in power,
should be aggressive without taking too many risks and (most importantly) be
reliable and
trustworthy
Partner selection and cultural fit:
• All empirical evidence on international joint ventures shows that
cultural differences lead to
numerous problems and conflicts within partnerships - any cooperative
venture between Western and
Asian partners is bound to run into cross-cultural problems of various kinds
• The heterogeneity of Asian peoples has prevented the emergence of a
monolithic business culture
• If there is anything all Asians have in common and which differs
from the West, it is the high degree
of importance attached to personal relationships in preference to
contractual ones
• The establishment of a cultural fit therefore requires the joint
venture partners to plan for a more
personal involvement by their managers
Partner cultural differences:
• Generally speaking, there are two salient differences between Asian
and Western corporate culture
– in South &East Asia many firms still tend to be over dependent on
the decisions of the person at
the top, who often is owner or founder of the company
– local firms (particularly in East Asia), tend to emphasize both the
firm’s and the employee’s duty
to contribute to society and to strengthen the domestic economy - this
nationalistic orientation can
make it difficult for Western firms to cooperate with Asian firms on the
basis of mutual benefit
– national and ethnic cultures are also shaped by the differences
which arise from sociological,
religious and philosophical norms and beliefs
– a small Asian firm without any procedures will have difficulty in
cooperating with a
bureaucratically organized Western multinational - the entrepreneur who
heads a large Asian
conglomerate, accustomed to making all the important decisions himself, will
resist negotiating
with a middle manager of a Western firm
Negotiating partnership agreements:
• Negotiating and structuring a partnership agreement is a complex
and multifaceted task anywhere in
the world
• Many of the negotiation approaches used in Europe or the USA can be
used in Asia as well
• Good preparation through systematic information gathering and
consensus building among all
members of the negotiation team about objectives, strategy and tactics are
as essential in Asia as
elsewhere.
• There are, however, certain peculiarities of the Asian and Latin
American mind which merit special
attention.
• Asians and Latin Americans are reputed to be good negotiators, to
enjoy bargaining, and in the
process display considerable patience and perseverance in extracting
additional information from
other side.
• Rarely is a deal closed without giving in to some extent in order
not to let the other party lose face
• A good relationship will bring a high degree of trust to the
negotiation table.
• It obliges both parties to be reasonable, act in good faith and
respect other’s opinion; hence overly
contractual to legalistic approach is frowned upon
• In Asia and many developing countries, agreements are rarely
concluded within short time periods -
often the need to clear certain issues with the government or other parties
invisible at the negotiation
table slows the decision process considerably
Managing partnerships:
Managers need to address the following organizational aspects for management
of partnerships;
Organizational design
– initial strategic move of the partnership
– development of operational capabilities
Staffing
– need more than technical competencies
– be part of core international managers group
– capable of synthesizing and transmitting learning experiences to
the institutional memory
Control over strategic alliance
Communication in the alliance partnership
|
|
|
|
|