Concept of strategic alliances There is no uniform definition of a strategic alliance. Some people even say that strategic alliance is nothing more than a fashionable word invented by consulting companies.2 Strategic alliance is a specific kind of inter-firm relationship that can take a variety of forms, ranging from an arm’s length contract to a joint venture.3 The concept of strategic alliances has gone through changes over the years. In the mid-1980s, researchers restricted the concept to joint ventures with legal entity and independence from the partner companies.4 Later, the concept was extended to encompass lasting partnerships between competitors, without any reference to the legal form chosen. In today’s widely accepted view, a strategic alliance is a lasting cooperation between competitors or undertakings operating on different markets, and based on mutual benefits.5 As has been proposed by various researchers,6 a strategic alliance can be said to have the following distinguishing characteristics: • Two or more entities unite and agree to pursue an important set of goals, while remaining independent subsequent to the formation of the alliance; • The partners share both the benefits of the alliance and control over the performance of assigned tasks during the lifetime of it; none of the partners have sole control over the other, although they do influence each other; • The partners contribute, on a continuing basis, towards key strategic areas; the relationship is not transactional and they each address the challenges of 2 AR Xxxxxx, Strategische Allianzen und ihre Herausforderungen an das Wettbewerbsrecht der Europäischen Union (Dissertation) (Xxxxx Xxxx Verlag 1996) 6.
