Business strategy Assignment PDF

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Business strategy
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Abstract
The major objectives of this research paper are to discuss about the current scenario and relevant
factors in strategic alliances in the global market and identifying the major gaps in the literature
in critically analyzing the current scenario of strategic alliances. In this paper, various authors
along with their views are being used to have a critical approach in the discussion. In doing the
research, different quality and authentic journals are being used, which denotes the usage of
secondary data. In addition, qualitative data analysis method is followed to have the penetrated
view based on the opinions given by the authors. In addition, initiation of the qualitative research
analysis method also helped in identifying the differences in the approaches of the authors. It is
identified that majority of the authors have given narrow and one sided view against the given
topic. In this paper, there is number of factors being discussed, which should be considered in
having a successful strategic alliance. In addition, it is also being identified that majority of the
articles have given an overview rather discussing on a single and specific element. This caused
difficulty in aligning the views of the authors with that of the research objectives. However, it is
also identified that strategic alliances are having a number of utilities for the business
organizations along with having the potentiality for long term sustainability considering all the
required factors being determined effectively. A few limitations are also there in doing this
research paper with the major limitation is the usage of only secondary data. This is due to the
reason that primary data will have more authenticity for the research paper, which is not used in
this paper. In addition, it is assumed that current business scenario is constant and based on that,
views of the authors are analyzed. It is expected that the research done in this paper will help in
having a critical view about the utilities of the strategic alliances and the important factors to be
considered by the business organizations prior to the initiation of the alliances.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Current scenario of strategic alliances.........................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Utility of the strategic alliance.....................................................................................................5
Approaches to the strategic alliances...........................................................................................7
Factors consideration in initiating strategic alliances..................................................................9
Probable risks in initiating strategic alliance.............................................................................11
Research methodology...................................................................................................................13
Findings.........................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
Reference.......................................................................................................................................19
Appendix........................................................................................................................................23

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Introduction
The importance of strategic alliance has increased significantly over the past decade, and
it has been used as a response to the globalisation in the market. Alliance play a vital role in the
sustainability of different organisations as it facilitates in providing access to crucial resources
and gaining competitive advantage in the market. The economic environment in the global
scenario is turbulent, and market trends keep on changing rapidly. The companies are forced to
adapt to these changes by incorporating new strategies such as alliances due to the lack of
internal resources in the external market and the need of maintaining a strategic position in the
market. The changes in the market scenarios have made the competition intense at such a level
that the competition is no more between the individual companies but between the strategic
alliances. Collaborative agreements allow different firms to mitigate their shortcomings, bridge
the gap and effectively manage the complexities in the market. A strategic partnership has been
used by the companies for fortifying their resource endowments, managing the uncertainty in the
external environment and improves their competitiveness.
Current scenario of strategic alliances
Firms use strategic alliance as a means of improving the knowledge and availability of
complementary resources. There is a wide range of cooperative strategies both equity-based and
non-equity implemented by the companies based on their current needs. A strategic alliance can
be defined as the international relationship between two or more firms which involves sharing of
resources or exchange of resources to gain competencies in the market. As per the current
scenario in the global market, a strategic alliance is a critical factor in achieving a competitive
advantage in the market. The enhancement of the competitive position, transaction costs and new

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knowledge development are the key benefits of getting into an alliance (Brouthers, Nakos and
Dimitratos 2015). There are different reasons due to which firms can use the strategicalliance to
create competitive advantages such as effective management of risk, economies of scale and
cost-effective entries to the new market (Garg 2016). In addition, in the current business
scenario, it should also be noted that gaining competitive advantages is the one of the major
factor considerations for the contemporary business organizations. This is due to the reason that
current business scenario is highly competitive in nature with the presence of good number of
competitors in each of the business sectors. Thus, the more will be the competitive advantages
for the business organizations, the more will be their effectiveness in staying ahead in the
competition. With the help of the strategic alliance, business organizations gains competitive
advantages by leveraging on each other’s resources. In addition, initiation of the strategic
alliances also helps in reducing the intensity of the competition in the market. This is due to the
reason that if the competitors went for strategic alliance, then number of operating players in the
market will get reduced and average profitability will get enhanced.
However, even though strategic alliance has been a common phenomenon, the success
rates of alliances are quite a low due, and research statistics show that 50% of the alliances fail
(Albers, Wohlgezogen and Zajac 2016). The high failure rates indicate that it is challenging to
develop productive and successful partnerships which mean that the majority of the firms do not
have the capabilities of maximising their potential value creation. The dynamic nature of the
collaboration is one of the main reasons for the failure of alliances of different firms where the
firms are unable to balance between cooperation and competition simultaneously effectively.
This instance depicts that even though strategic alliances are one of the most effective strategies
for gaining competitive advantage in the current market, the chances of success are half. The

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competition between the firms and managerial complexity are two major reasons that firms fail
to form successful partnerships (Russo and Cesarani 2017). This literature review has identified
the current scenario of strategic alliances in the market to provide an in-depth understanding of
the positives and the negatives of the market scenario. The main objectives of the research are as
follows:
 Critical evaluation of the current scenario of strategic alliance in the global market
 Determining the literature gap from the existing research to examine the scope of
future research
Literature review
Utility of the strategic alliance
Prior to the further discussion regarding different aspects of the strategic alliance, it is
important to have the understanding about the overview and basic utility of the strategic alliance
for the business organizations. According to Lew and Sinkovics (2013), one of the major utilities
for the initiation of the strategic alliance is gaining competitive advantages. This is due to the
reason that initiation of the strategic alliance will help the business organizations to leverage the
competitiveness of their partnered firm and enhance the value proposition in the market.
However, on the other hand, it is also stated by the authors that innovation also plays an
important role in enhancing the effectiveness of the strategic alliance. This is due to the reason
that there are number of instances where it is seen that strategic alliance is failed due to the lack
of innovation among the involved entities. For instance, the strategic alliance between Nokia and
Microsoft got failed due to the lack of vision and innovation. It was reported that the major
objective of the merger between Nokia and Microsoft is leverage the brand recall of Nokia in the

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mobile handsets market and technological superiority of Microsoft (Kolk and Rungi 2013).
However, without having the portfolio of innovative and radical products, the merger got
dissolved.
In this case, Li, Qian and Qian (2013) reviewed the effectiveness of the strategic alliance
from the perspective of resource based view. According to the authors, as per the resource based
view, access to larger resources will help the business organizations in gaining competitive
advantages and initiation of the strategic alliance helps in increasing the access to the resources.
This is due to the reason that in the case of strategic alliance, the resources of both the entities
will sum up and help in gaining competitive advantages. Thus, it can be concluded that one of
the major utilities for the initiation of the strategic alliance is gaining competitive advantages. On
the other hand, there are number of factors also to be noted in initiation of strategic alliances.
One of the major factors is determination of the accessible resources with the help of the
alliances. This is important due to the reason that if one entity in the alliance is not having the
enough financial abilities or any other resources, then it will not be profitable for another one in
entering in the alliance. In addition, it is also being stated by the authors that the business
organizations should also have the fair understanding about the effectiveness and utility of the
gained resources in the development of the market. If the resources being gained are not get
matched to what are required for the market development, then also competitive advantages
cannot be gained from the initiation of the strategic alliances.
However, it should also be noted that in both the articles, it is identified that the authors
have reviewed the effectiveness of the concept of strategic alliance from the perspective of
gaining more access to resources. Thus, the discussion got more one sided and narrow. It should
also be considered about the potential loss of competitiveness and resources that may cause due

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to the strategic alliances. This is due to the reason that in various failed attempt of strategic
alliance, it is identified that involved entities lost their resources just like in the case of merger
between Nokia and Microsoft. Nokia lost their existing market share due to the partnership and
Microsoft lost their market potentiality in the mobile operating system business (Basole et al.
2015). Thus, it should be noted that strategic alliance should be well adhered to the current
market requirements and should also have the provision for innovation.
Approaches to the strategic alliances
There are various approaches of strategic alliances being practiced in the current time. In
addition, the approaches are getting evolved with time and newer practices are being introduced
in accordance to the current business scenario. According to Hohberger, Almeida and Parada
(2015), the approaches of strategic alliances are different to that of what they are in the past. This
is due to the reason that the business scenario is different in the current time and the level of
competition is also high. However, the approaches of strategic alliances being discussed by the
authors are also vulnerable towards the changing business scenario. This is identified as one of
the major gaps in this article. The authors have mainly discussed about the relationship between
the firm innovation and strategic alliances and stated that any of the approaches of strategic
alliance will help the business organizations in gaining competitive edge in the market.
According to the porter generic strategies, one of the major ways of gaining competitive
advantages is the cost leadership. This refers to the process of offering the end products or
services in lowest cost possible to the customers along with reducing the average cost of
production. According to Hohberger, Almeida and Parada (2015), initiation of the strategic
alliance will help the particular business entity in reducing their cost of operation. In this case,

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the contemporary business organizations initiate outsourcing strategy as the preferred choice of
strategic alliance. Outsourcing refers to the process of transferring the partial operational job to
the third party vendors in order to reduce their operational cost. For instance, it is reported that
Global rating firm Nielsen outsourced their operational activities to the Tata Consultancy
Services of India. This is helping Nielsen in having lower cost of operation and enabling them to
provide end services to their customers in more competitive prices. Thus, it is meeting the cost
leadership element of porter generic strategy.
On the other hand, it is stated by Jiang et al. (2016) that initiation of the strategic alliance
can also help the business organizations in gaining competitive advantages by means of product
or service differentiation. This is due to the reason that leveraging the distinctive expertise of the
partnered entity will help in initiating the differentiation approach. One of the major examples of
gaining competitive advantages by means of differentiation is the strategic alliance between Ford
and Eddie Bauer. This helped Ford in adding luxury upholstery of Eddie Bauer in their Explorer
vehicle and created a niche product among the competition. Thus, it can be concluded that
strategic alliance between Ford and Eddie Bauer helped in initiating the product differentiation
approach (Lee, Lee and Lee 2013).
Therefore, initiation of different approaches of strategic alliance can help the
contemporary business organizations in gaining competitive advantages as per the porter generic
strategies. However, it should also be noted that there are number of limitations also evident in
initiating the differentiation approach by means of strategic alliance. One of the major limitations
of the strategic alliance in this case will be complexity in the operational purposes. This is due to
the reason that outsourcing the internal jobs will involve the third party vendors in the internal
management, which will only increase the complexities. These factors are not being discussed by

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the authors. In addition, the cost involved in jointly developing the products is also not being
considered by the authors. As discussed in the above about the alliance between Ford and Eddie
Bauer, this involved a certain cost for both the entities. This is important in reviewing the
effectiveness of their alliance. Thus, it will be more effective if both the involved entities in the
strategic alliance can have mutual benefits. This will ensure that cost involvement will be lower
and the partnership can be carried over by having mutual benefits from the alliance.
Factors consideration in initiating strategic alliances
In the current business scenario, there are number of factors to be considered in initiating
strategic alliances. This is due to the reason that in the current business scenario, market
competitiveness is high than ever along with the frequent change in taste and preference patterns
of the customers. According to Jiang et al. (2016), one of the major factors to be considered in
initiating strategic alliance is business opportunities. This is due to the reason that profit
maximization is the core objective for any strategic alliances and thus favorable business
opportunities are important for the successful implementation. In this case, blue ocean strategy
will be effective for the business organizations for determining the market potentiality. Blue
ocean theory revolves around the concept of entering in the business with low intensity of
competition and largely untapped and market. Thus, it is important for the business organizations
to initiate the blue ocean strategy prior to the initiation of the strategic alliance.
For instance, Pizza Hut and Coca Cola went for the strategic alliance in co-creating new
food items. They came with the idea of offering Coca Cola with each of the items of Pizza Hut.
This strategy is being initiated only after determining the fact that customers are having the
preferences for combo packs of both drinks and food items. Thus, the strategic alliance between

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Coca Cola and Pizza Hut helped them to start a new trend in the market, which justifies the blue
ocean theory. Therefore, it can be concluded that market opportunity should be identified by the
business organizations prior to the initiation of the strategic alliance process. However, on the
other hand, it is also being identified that even if the market potentiality can be identified, then
also the strategic alliance will not be immune enough towards the changing market trend
(Besharat and Langan 2014). For instance, Nokia and Microsoft went in to strategic alliance for
providing the Windows powered phones in the market. However, even though they have offered
enough updated features with the phones but cannot able to cope up with the rapid change in the
customer expectations and trends. This led to the failure of the strategic alliance between Nokia
and Microsoft. These factors are not being discussed by the authors in these articles.
Another important factor being considered prior to the initiation of the strategic alliance
is the market access in the global scenario. According to Owen and Yawson (2013), it is
important for the business organizations to determine the global access they are going to gain
from the strategic alliance. This is due to the reason that in the current global business scenario,
business organizations are initiating strategic alliance for gaining more global access. For
instance, Google buys HTC smartphones in order to increase their presence in the rapidly
increasing global smartphone market. This acquisition strategy of HTC is being taken by Google
only after confirming the market potentiality. Klossek, Meyer and Nippa (2015) stated that
Google is one of the most used operating systems in mobile across the world but they are not
having their presence among the original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Thus, with the
acquisitions of HTC, Google gained the access in the global smartphone market, which further
helps them to enhance their profitability. However, Klossek, Meyer and Nippa (2015) also stated
that confirming the market potentiality and access prior to the initiation of the strategic alliance

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is also having limitations with the major limitation being the change in the market. This is due to
the reason that market potentiality will get changed with the change in the market trends. These
are not being discussed by Owen and Yawson (2013). It can be concluded that the approach of
product and business strategy should be rapidly changing in accordance to the market trend only
to keep up with scenario.
Probable risks in initiating strategic alliance
Apart from the advantages and disadvantages of initiating strategic alliance, there are
number of risks also being associated with it. In addition, these risks are increasing in the current
business scenario. According to Brouthers, Nakos and Dimitratos (2015), in the current business
scenario, there are as many risks being associated with the strategic alliances as their
possibilities. One of the major risks being identified is the adverse impact on the reputation of
the organization. This is due to the reason that if the partnered entity is having negative market
reputation, then it will also affect the market potentiality of another. Thus, it is important for the
business organizations to have the fair understanding about the firm to be partnered with in order
to avoid the future negative consequences. However, on the other hand, it is stated by Albers and
Wohlgezogen and Zajac (2016) that it is difficult for the business organizations to understand the
future consequences due to the reason that negative reputation can get emerged in the further
stage also. It is stated by the authors that even in the further stage of the strategic alliance, the
emergence of negative reputation of one partner entity will affect the potentiality of another.
However, in this case, it should also be noted that risk of negative reputation can also be
mitigated more effectively with the help of the strategic alliance. This is due to the reason that in
the case of strategic alliance, risks will be equally distributed between both the entities. Thus, the

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organization facing the threat of emergence of negative reputation will not have to bear by own
rather it will be faced by the partnered firm also. Ozmel, Robinson and Stuart (2013) also
countered the statement given by Brouthers, Nakos and Dimitratos (2015) by stating
organizations in the strategic alliance are more effective in mitigating the risks of negative
reputation. This is due to the reason that with the partnership between the two firms, it will be
easy for them to overcome the barriers. Partnership between the firms will also enable them to
have larger access to finance and capital, which will ensure that mitigation process is more
effective and efficient.
Another major risk of strategic alliance is the lack of control. This is due to the reason
that in the case of strategic alliance, both the partnered entities will have the authority in
initiating the business strategies. Thus, each of these entities will face the complexities and lack
of control in the decision making process. According to Anderson et al. (2013), some of the
approaches of strategic alliance such as mergers, joint ventures and outsourcing are having major
impact on the management control and decision making process. The authors have stated about
the complexities and difficulties that may get faced by the partnered firms from these strategic
alliance approaches, while the influence of the external situations on these impacts is not
discussed. In this point, Andrew and Carr (2013) stated that relationship and coordination
between the entities are important for the success of the strategic alliances. This coordination
will be influenced by the external factors such as economic condition, social and political factors.
Therefore, lack of discussion about the influence of the external factors is a major gap being
identified.
It should be considered that coordination between the entities will be more if the involved
parties in the strategic alliance are from same business line or having same business approaches.

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As per Nakos, Brouthers and Dimitratos (2014), if both the involved entities are having same
business approaches and objectives, then it will be easier for them to maintain the singular
approach of the strategic alliance. For instance, the major reason for the success of the joint
venture between Cherry automobiles of China and Jaguar Land Rover of the United Kingdom is
their operation in the same business sector and similar business objectives, which are
complementing each other. With the help of the joint venture, Jaguar Land Rover intended to tap
the Chinese market by lowering the cost of production and Cherry Automobiles targeted to gain
the technological insights from Jaguar Land Rover and increase their competitiveness. However,
on the other hand, it is stated by Klijin et al. (2014) that operating in the same business sector
will not the only factor for successful implementation of the strategic alliance as number of
alliances such as Nokia and Microsoft and Sony and Ericsson got failed even by operating in the
same sector. Thus, it is mainly depended on the business objectives of both the entities. This is
due to the reason that it is highly likely that two entities from the same business sector will be
competitors and thus the business objectives cannot be in the same line even with having the
alliances between them. Thus, in order to have the successful strategic alliances between the
business organizations, it is important to have the fair understanding about the objectives of each
of them. This will ensure long term sustainability for the alliances.
Research methodology
Research methodology defines the overall plan of action of collecting the data collection
and data analysis. The research methodology has been chosen based on the objective of the
research and in this research; exploration of the current scenarios of strategic alliance is one of
the major concerns in the organization (Taylor, Bogdanand DeVault2015). In this research,
critical evaluation of the current scenario of strategic alliance is the research topic so the study

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will conduct descriptive analysis of data. Saunders research methodology has been followed in
the research and different layers of the research onion have been used to critically evaluate the
collected literature.
This research has used the interprevist view as the philosophy where the collected data
has been explored. The study has conducted subjective analysis of data where social construction
has been used as a method. As per the interpretivist view, qualitative analysis of data has been
conducted (Flick 2015). The study has also used the inductive approach of reasoning so that the
current literature can be evaluated and the gap can be identified. The inductive approach will
facilitate in developing the problem statement and the research area that has to be addressed in
future research.
The study has used exploratory research design and the main purpose of the research
design is explore data about current scenario in strategic alliance and provide in depth analysis of
the advantages, disadvantages and different methods used for strategic alliance to provide the
overall scenario of strategic alliance in the international market (Ledford and Gast 2018).
However, this research design will not provide any definitive conclusion to the research but will
only explore to provide possible conclusions for future research in this field.
The data has been collected from secondary sources. Peer reviewed journals and articles
have been used to gather data relevant for the research. In this given research, the data has been
collected from authentic websites so that accurate analysis can be conducted. The data has been
analysis using thematic analysis where different themes have been developed based on the
research objectives (Quinlanet al.2019). The research findings are developed by critically
evaluating different articles on strategic alliance which will provide the gap in the literature.

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In this research, convenience sampling has been used as a method of collecting relevant
data from the research (Onwuegbuzieand Collins2017). The peer reviewed journals have been
chosen based on the research objectives and convenience of the study. In this research, the target
sample of the research consists of the journals on strategic alliances, the sample frame consist of
authenticpeer-reviewed journals on current scenarios in strategic alliances,and the sample size is
17. In order to maintain the internal consistency of the research, data has been collected from
authentic sources,and none of the data has been falsified, fabricated or plagiarised, which are the
three cardinal sins in research. It is challenging to maintain reliability and validity in subjective
studies,but the study has used comparative analysis and authentic research sources to sustain it.
Findings
In the majority of the articles, it has been seen that the advantages of the strategic
alliances have been focused and none of the articleshas addressed the drawbacks of using
strategic alliance in the global market. Therefore, there is a future scope of providing in-depth
analysis of the disadvantages of using strategic alliance and major reasons for failure of strategic
alliances. Even though strategic alliance is one of the most lucrative options for companies
expanding in the foreign market, it should be noted that the risk of implementing strategic
alliance is high (Gomes, Barnes and Mahmood, 2016). The high risk is the reason that majority
of the companies fail to form effectivealliances due to the increase in complexity within the
organization.
As per the resource-based theories it has been seen that resources play a critical role in
global competitive advantage. Strategic alliances are the means of gathering strategic resources
for the organizations; various companies use it to gain access to unavailable resources (Tallman

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2017). The resource endowment of the different firms defines the competitive positioning of
different firms. The current market situation suggests that in the majority of the cases, markets
are imperfect and incomplete which is the main reason that firms seek new resources. The
resource gap in the market is addressed by the strategic alliance where complementary firms use
each other’s resources to increase their share in the market.
The finding suggests that alliance formation is the initial phase which manifests the
interests of the firm in forming strategic alliance on the research. The firms analyze the potential
benefits of the alliances and choose the party based on the resource requirements. The major
aspect of this phase is choosing the most appropriate form of strategic alliance strategy and the
partner that would assist in gain access to resources that are unavailable in the current market
(Lin and Darnall 2015). The desirable matches are used to examine the strategies, goals and
partners required to develop an effective strategic management. It is essential to examine the
strategic fit between both the parties throughout the lifecycle of the alliance and hit level of fit
determines the success chances of the alliance. The firms have to keep three factors into mind
while developing strategic alliance and they are compatibility, congruence and complementarity
between partners. The firms entering into strategic alliance may have different goals and
objectives but it is essential that the goals and objectives are compatible.
The governance form suitable for the strategic alliance is the next crucial aspect in this
phase which reduces the risk of opportunistic behaviour. Depending upon the risk factor, the
firms can choose among self-enforcing, contractual and equity ownership. The implementation
of the strategic alliance plan is executed in the next phase of the research. The interaction
between both the parties increases the risk of conflict between both the parties (Ahlstromet
al.2014). Coordination between the parties is the key element of effective strategic alliance for

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both the parties. Control and communication are two important phases in the partnership. Control
is essential for setting up ground rules for the organizations which makes the behaviour of both
the partners predictable and easier to cooperate. Similarly, communication between both the
parties is a key factor for sharing information regarding the different aspect of the research.
Communication is also an effective strategy for avoiding and mitigating conflicts between both
the parties.
The final phase is the evaluation of the developed strategic partnership where the alliance
lifecycle is analyzed to examine the potential benefits attained form the alliances. The evaluation
results determine the future of the strategic alliance between the parties. The evaluation throws
light on the strategies that needs to be implemented for improving the strategic partnership and at
the same time identifies whether the partnership needs to be terminated or not.
The different models discussed consist of porter’s five forces and generic model. The
porter’s five forces and the generic model determine the different strategies essential for
improving the competitive advantage and states that strategic alliance is a viable options for
companies. However, both these models have failed to discuss the different drawbacks of
strategic alliance. Even though use strategic alliance to reduce their internal cost but in the long
run, outsourcing and other methods increases the overall cost of the organization. Moreover, in
most of the cases, the increase in complexity due to the integration of both the companies
resources and activities. This increases the level of conflict and competition between both the
parties and causes the failure of the partnership. In most of the journals, it has been seen that
advantages of strategic alliance has been described in detail but the disadvantages have been
avoided totally. This is one of the major gaps in most of the researches, the research papers are

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developed exploratory view in most cases and narrowing down the topic to specific countries and
industries will better evaluate the conditions specific to particular industries.
Conclusion
In the past decades, strategic alliance has been used numerous companies to enhance their
competitive advantage and growth. The firms have used strategic alliance to strengthen their
strategic position but in majority of the cases, the firms have failed to enter new markets and gain
access to critical resources. Strategic alliance has exhibited low success rates which is an area
which needs to be addressed in future studies. The major drawback in used literature is the fact
that studies are based on secondary data and primary data has been used in majority of the cases.
The use of primary data analysis where both quantitative and qualitative data analysis would
provide the actual scenario in the market and their perspective on strategic alliance. There is a
need to shift from dyadic to a portfolio level which will facilitate in understanding the issues
emerging from alliances both single and multiple for companies operating in the global
environment. It can also be concluded that initiation of the strategic alliances will only be
successful if the different factors discussed in this paper are being followed. This is due to the
reason that in the current business state of affairs, more determining elements are getting
emerged and these are to be considered by the involved parties in the strategic alliances for
gaining long term sustainability.

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Appendix
Journals Author/year Scope GAPs
Long range planning Lew, Y.K. and
Sinkovics, R.R., 2013
Discussion regarding
the advantages of
strategic alliances
One sided and narrow
approach. Only
focused on gaining
resources.
Journal of Business
Research
Li, L., Qian, G. and
Qian, Z., 2013
Resource
enhancement by
strategic alliances
Only discussed about
the resource based
view
Research policy Hohberger, J.,
Almeida, P. and
Parada, P., 2015
Impact on innovation
by strategic alliances
No discussion about
the complexities
associated with
gaining innovation
through strategic
alliances
Journal of business
research
Jiang, X., Bao, Y.,
Xie, Y. and Gao, S.,
2016
Relation between
differentiation and
strategic alliances
Lack of consideration
of the cost involved.
Long Range Planning Jiang, X., Yang, Y.,
Pei, Y.L. and Wang,
G., 2016
Important factors to
be considered in
initiating alliances
No discussion about
the influence of
external factors on
business opportunities
Journal of banking & Owen, S. and How to gain global Lack of discussion

24BUSINESS STRATEGY
finance Yawson, A., 2013 access through
alliances
about the changing
scenario of the global
factors
Managerial and
Decision Economics
Klossek, A., Meyer,
K.E. and Nippa, M.,
2015
Discussion about the
impact of the change
in the market trends
No narrow down
approach about the
specific impact of
different factors
Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice
Brouthers, K.D.,
Nakos, G. and
Dimitratos, P., 2015
Risks in strategic
alliances in the
current time
No discussion about
how to measure the
risks
Journal of
Management
Albers, S.,
Wohlgezogen, F. and
Zajac, E.J., 2016
Difficulties in
identifying the risks in
alliances
No discussion on the
effectiveness of
alliances in mitigating
the risks
Journal of Financial
Economics
Ozmel, U., Robinson,
D.T. and Stuart, T.E.,
2013
Effectiveness of
alliances in mitigating
risks
No discussion on cost
involved in mitigating
process
Journal of
Management
Accounting Research
Anderson, S.W.,
Christ, M.H., Dekker,
H.C. and Sedatole,
K.L., 2013
Lack of control due to
strategic alliances
No specific discussion
with a single approach
rather only an
overview
Urban Studies Andrew, S.A. and
Carr, J.B., 2013
Importance of
relationship and
No discussion on the
influence of the