An Overview of Strategic Alliance: Competitive Advantages in Alliance Constellations

Strategic alliances which are cooperative strategies in which firms combine some of their resources to create competitive advantages, are the primary form of cooperative strategies. Strategic alliances are an important source of resources, learning and thereby competitive advantage. Few firms have all of the resources needed to compete effectively in the current dynamic landscape. Thus, firms seek access to the necessary resources through alliances. Research on strategic alliance in the past few decades has suggested that strategic alliance dramatically reshaped the dynamic of competition. This study provides an important and useful perspective on strategic alliances. Approaches, examples, models and other tools are discussed to develop a deeper understanding of how competitive advantage of the alliance can be achieved.