Success factors of strategic alliances in small and medium-sized enterprises - An empirical survey

Strategic alliances are increasingly gaining favour over go-it-alone strate gies for organisations to achieve fast and economical growth. This study ai ms to identify critical success factors in alliance-making with special con sideration given to the specific situation of small and medium-sized enterp rises (SMEs). A comprehensive questionnaire was used to interview a random sample of key executives in 164 Austrian SMEs. This paper reports on the re sults of that empirical survey, and seeks to identify the weights of variou s success factors in alliance-making in SMEs. The results show that "soft" facts such as trust are important for alliance success, but not on their ow n sufficient. Also "hard" facts such as strategic compatibility and appropr iate governance mechanisms have an important influence on alliance success. Careful strategic planning and good partnership preparation are essential for alliance success, but the full value of an alliance has to be developed as it evolves. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.