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Collaboration Strategies

6 important questions on Collaboration Strategies

What if a firm doesn't have the capabilities to go solo if they don't want to collaborate?

If a firm finds that it lacks certain required capabilities but there are also no potential partners with such capabilities, it may be forced to develop the capabilities on its own.

What are the advantages of collaborating?

- Share the costs and risks of the project
- Enable a firm to obtain necessary skills or resources more quickly than developing them in-house
- Reduce its asset commitment and enhance its flexibility
- Source of learning from the partners
- Creation of a shared standard

What are the 5 types of collaborative arrangements?

1. Strategic alliances
2. Joint ventures
3. Licensing
4. Outsourcing
5. Collective research organizations

What is the purpose of a strategic alliances?

To access a critical capability that is not possessed in-house or to more fully exploit their own capabilities by leveraging them in another firm’s development efforts. Firms with different capabilities necessary for developing a new technology or penetrating a new market might form alliances to pool their resources so that collectively they can develop the product or market faster or less expensively.

Which trade-offs should be considered in order to determine the collaboration strategy?

Speed, cost, control, potential for leveraging existing competencies, potential for develop- ing new competencies, or potential for accessing another firm’s competencies.

What are three main types of governance mechanisms?

- Alliance contract; a legal binding contract to ensure that the parties are aware of the rights and obligations of the collaboration and to have legal remedies available if a partner violates the agreement.
- Equity ownership: Every party provides a certain amount of capital and owns a specific right to a percentage of the proceeds from the alliance.
- Relational governance: Are self enforcing based on trust, goodwill and reputation, which emerged over time if firms collaborate.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Strategic Management of Technological Innovation | 9780078029233

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