STRATEGIC ALLIANCES - CHOOSE YOUR PARTNERS

In the never-ending search for ways of gaining a sustainable competiti ve advantage, global corporations have increasingly turned to the use of strategic alliances as a method of international expansion. Unfortu nately, many firms have been unpleasantly surprised by the outcomes of their strategic alliance relationships. In this paper, we draw upon p revious theoretical and empirical work to develop a framework for anal ysing the likely success of international strategic alliances. Dubbed 'the 4 Cs', we show how this analytic framework can assist firms in th eir efforts to avoid picking the wrong alliance partners.