HORIZONTAL ALLIANCES AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO AUTONOMOUS PRODUCTION: PRODUCT EXPANSION MODE CHOICE IN THE WORLDWIDE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY 1945-2000

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Garrette, Bernard; Castaner, Xavier; Dussauge, Pierre
• 署名单位: Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Paris; University of Lausanne
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.770
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 885-894
• 关键词: Alliance; collaboration; fit; governance; resource; competence; GROWTH

摘要

This study investigates why firms choose to undertake product expansion through alliances with competitors rather than on their own. We highlight product heterogeneity, as a determinant of this make or ally choice. We propose that firms turn to horizontal alliances in order to implement product expansion projects that require greater resources than those available to them. More precisely, we hypothesize that a firm. is more likely to launch a new product through a horizontal alliance rather than autonomously when the resource requirements of the project are greater, the resources available to the firm are more limited, there is a mismatch between resource endowment and requirement, and the firm's collaborative competence allows it to better cope with the interorganizational concerns that collaboration with competitors raises. We find support for our arguments on a sample of 310 new aircraft developments launched between 1945 and 2000, either by a single prime contractor or as a horizontal alliance in which prime contractorship is shared with another industry incumbent. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.