ABSTRACT
Accordingly, the objective of this book is to connect existing theoretical and practical insights and thereby present a much needed, coherent and academically grounded development framework of strategic alliance management. The framework focuses on unique decision-making situations tied to the management of alliances as they progress from formation to termination. Our unique alliance development framework is also grounded in theoretical perspectives (i.e. knowwhat), supported by practice-oriented decision-making guidelines (i.e. knowhow), and illustrated by real-life alliance cases. It also incorporates both generic and specifi c decision-making situations tied to unique alliance conditions. Before we proceed to introduce our Alliance Development Framework though, we establish a foundation for this book in this opening chapter. To this end, we fi rst outline our book’s scope and provide a clear defi nition of an alliance. In the following two sections, we elaborate on why fi rms increasingly use alliances as instruments to develop and sustain a competitive advantage, as well as the causes for alliance failure. In the fi nal section, after explaining the need for a book on strategic alliance management, we present the structure of the book.
