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Schreiner et al. (2009) "What really is management capability and how does it impact alliance outcomes and succes?

27 important questions on Schreiner et al. (2009) "What really is management capability and how does it impact alliance outcomes and succes?

Which two research streams emerge that address different but really equally important issues realted to this subject?

One stream that focuses on how alliance capability develops in firms
Second stream that investigates what elements specifically constitute a firm's alliance capability

a. The skills that comprise a firm’s capability to manage firm’s entire portfolio of alliances = Alliance portfolio capability
b. Elements that comprise its capability to manage any individual alliance = Alliance management capability

How do the authors conceptualize the notion of alliance management capability?

By providing a theoretical account of the main cognitive, behavioral, organizational skills that enable a firm to effectively and efficiently manage any given alliance

Which aspects does the conceptualization highlight of this capability?

They emphasize the content of such a capability instead of the factors that underlie its development
They emphasize skills that are critical to managing an individual alliance after it is up and running, instead of addressing issues that are related to the formation and governance of an alliance

In which way do the authors see alliance management capability as a multidimensional construct that comprises skills?

To address three main aspects in a given alliance

What do earlier scholars argue about developing an alliance capability?

By having a greater experience in managing such relationships
Firms also undertake deliberate actions to establish certain structural mechanisms or organizational processes to develop their alliance capability

How do they refer to alliance portfolio capability?

The ability to

Form new alliances that do not compete with other existing alliances in the portfolio
Carefully select partners for a given alliance that are compatible with partners in other extant alliances,
Set up an appropriate firm-level mechanism to monitor various alliances in its portfolio, or
Coordinate activities and knowledge flows across individual alliances in the portfolio, and others.

Through which different stages in the lifecycle does an individual alliance go?

Formation phase
Design phase
Post-formation management phase

What are the three broad management challenges?

Because of the divided authority structure and the physical, cognitive, and cultural distance between partners, many alliances suffer from coordination lapses due to inappropriate interfaces and boundary-spanning mechanisms, as well as unclear roles, procedures, responsibilities, and loci of control
The adversarial effects of information asymmetries inherent in any alliance are exaggerated by a lack of information sharing and communication
Alliances suffer because of underdeveloped personal relationships (bonding)

What about the coordination aspect of alliance management capability?

Given the importance of coordination in alliances, alliance management capability entails a firm having an ability to coordinate and manage the interdependence between partners.

What does it involve? (coordination)

The ability to identify and build consensus about task requirements in a given alliance
The nature of the associated interdependence between partners
The specification of working procedures for task execution

What does coordination ability include?

Knowledge and skills to match the nature of interdependence between the two entities with appropriate coordination devices, chosen from the ample repository available for firms, to manage them.

What could a firm establish for nonroutine tasks that require more information processing, fast decision making, and mobilization of resources?

A cross-company management team that will quickly review major opportunties or risks when need arises

What do close personal bonds involve?

Extensive and repeated contact between the concerned entities, coupled with elements of affect and interpersonal linking

How can such bonds be developed?

Through a process of social integration wherein individuals become psychologically linked to each other in the pursuit of common goals

What is building social bonds?

A time-consuming process and expensive in terms of the managerial, financial, and temporal resources necessary because they evolve only gradually through repeated satisfying interactions and must be nurtured

What does the bonding dimension of alliance management capability entails?

A firm's ability to develop strong bonds with partners by consistently providing instrumental or expressive value to them

What does strong bonding behavior involve?

Taking efforts beyond the call of duty to meet a partner's needs without any immediate short-term gain, since such behavior evokes norms of reciprocity

How did previous reseach define an alliance?

As a medium- to long-term contractual arrangement in which two or more independent organizations acknowledge their mutual interdependencies and strive to pool their resources to jointly create an outcome that neither of the exchange parties can easily attain on its own

The need for joint action in the alliance will be greater

The greater the expected interdependence between partners

The greater the joint efforts taken by the partners to manage their focal activies, and/or the more one partner becomes involved in activities that are traditionally considered the others responsibility and vice versa

The greater their ability to compete successfully with the marketplace

Where is the potential of alliance partners to engage in joint action, so as to combine their resources and knowledge and to integrate their activities appropriately, contingent on?

On their ability to identify, structure, and sequence the main alliance tasks

What does strong communication abilities facilitate?

The required joint action between partners. Communicating timely, accurately, and completely reduces information asymmetries between partners that may otherwise hamper their ability to work together.

In which way may social bonding expand joint action?

By transforming the interaction preferences of actors. Being responsive, respectful, considerate, and supportive beyond the call of duty generates instrumental and expressive benefits for a partner and induces a reciprocal trusting relationship

Where do superior coordination abilities enable a firm to?

To implement joint working procedures for the efficient and effective execution of relevant alliance tasks for the benefit of both partners. Through the interaction involved in these procedures, a firm also creates opportunities to acquire knowledge about the partner’s customers and markets. Since superior coordination capabilities can potentially mitigate the costs associated with managing interdependence between partners while capitalizing on the benefits arising from it, it also should lead to an improvement in the focal firm’s sales and profitability.

What should a firm's superior communication ability do?

Make it easier for its partners to increase its own knowledge about the focal firm's competences, idiosyncrasies, and alliance motives, and how it might be helpful in realizing joint business opportunities

What will superior communication allow?

Partners to identify joint opportunities that would have gone unnoticed otherwise and thereby lead to higher sales or profit for the firm

How can the reciprocal, trusting relationship induced by strong bonding behavior on the focal firm serve?

As an informal conduit for the transfer of customer-related knowledge.

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