GLOBAL MARKETING

Global Marketing

Global Marketing

Introduction

The topic under review is strategic alliances. This particular form of non-equity alliance between firms in the same industry (competitors) is becoming an increasingly popular way of conducting business in the global environment. Many different reasons of why such alliances are occurring have been recognised.

The Global Logic Of Strategic Alliances

The underlying argument or reasoning behind Ohmae's opinion that strategic alliances, or entente, are the only way forward for all companies competing globally. "Globalisation mandates alliances, makes them absolutely necessary (Kotler and Keller 2009 248-317)." The author has supported this viewpoint, that globalisation makes strategic alliances necessary as vehicles for customer-orientated value, with four issues facing today's companies: 1. The Californization of Need; 2. The Dispersion of Technology; 3. The Importance of Fixed Costs, 4. Dangers of Equity.

Analysis

During the 1980s and 1990s, there has been numerous writing on the topic of strategic alliances, strategic technology partnering and corporate co-operation. The subjects range from why strategic alliances occur.

(Kotler Keller Brady Goodlman Hansen 2010 147-348) discuss issues as to why strategic alliances occur. Secondly, strategic alliances occur to leverage scarce resources when firms need to be in multiple markets to compete effectively.

(Usunier Lee 2009 87-110)expands the view of marketing to incorporate understanding and development of strategic alliances and issues in managing strategic alliances over time. The authors posit that organisational learning has become imperative for global strategic effectiveness in the 1990s because it has been increasingly difficult for firms to individually develop the sufficient levels of knowledge to successfully compete (Williamson 1999 pp 89-115). Strategic alliances provide the means of learning through inter-firm relationships.

Empirical Studies

Hagedoorn, both individually and with partners, has undertaken several empirical studies throughout the 1980s and 1990s on strategic alliances, or strategic technology partnering. In 1993 Hagedoorn attempted to understand the rationale of, or motives for, strategic technology partnering through empirical analysis of over 4000 strategic technology alliances, formed in the 1980s, in a number of industries. Although a large number of motives were identified, the results showed that there were two basic categories: market related and technology related. Eighty per cent of the strategic technology alliances that were studied can verify the author's hypothesis of a positive relationship between research orientation of the alliances and the research intensity of the sectors.

The study conducted by (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong and Saunders 2008 478-551) attempted to explain whether strategic partnering density (in international high-tech industries) within strategic groups is lower than external strategic group partnering density. Their results were inconclusive, showing that both types of strategic partnering occurred. Another study by (Hollensen 2007 62-348) explored the extent to which strategic technology alliances establish stable networks of co-operative firms and whether market share leading firms also participate disproportionately in strategic technology alliances. One of the main findings of the study was that large international companies do play a leading role in strategic technology collaboration. Hagedoorn also found a general pattern of flexibility and gradual changes with in the moderately stable structures of networks of strategic technology ...