Abstract:
The proliferation of corporate strategic alliances is explained by the opportunities this
provides for the exchange of knowledge and more rapid learning than any other factor.
Exploiting complementarities among products and services, strategic alliances enable value
creation by capturing the benefits from leveraging knowledge, and discovering complementarities
among technologies, and among the activities of the participants. This paper
explores the relevance of factors, which may influence the relationship involving the
imbalances of internal tensions and alliance instabilities. It is assumed that the objective in
a strategic alliance partnership is to maintain the collaborative relationship and to prevent
unplanned alliance dissolution. Factors such as availability of resources, bargaining power,
alliance type, alliances with specific goals and stages of industry life cycles, and changing
market conditions can influence internal tensions and therefore alliance stability. This article
argues that alliance partners should balance the conflicting forces to maintain the collaborative
knowledge creating and learning relationship.
