OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE USES OF ALLIANCES

This paper focuses on the relationship between learning, skill acquisi tion, and strategic alliances to build competitive advantage. In parti cular, we focus on how senior management can structure their alliances as learning platforms to assimilate new technologies and skills to re vitalize their core operations and to find new uses for existing skill s. Firms that enter strategic alliances without recognizing how knowle dge and skills form the basis for future competitive advantage are lik ely to lose not only their technologies and skills, but also their abi lity to shape future products in that industry. Co-operation or intera ction with an alliance partner to enter new markets or to develop new products also leads to competition in learning new skills and insights from one another.