ABSTRACT
Every day, headlines across the country announce new partnerships between companies. In the current economic business cycle, strong companies are partnering with other strong companies where objectives are congruent, and each can bring value to the other. These partnerships come in the form of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances. Strategic alliances are different in that both companies must be involved in making decisions and implementing the alliance because both have a vested interest going forward. Typically in strategic alliances, the parts of each business that overlap must be “cleaned up,” sold, or discontinued, and new linkages must be established between the companies. In the context of this chapter, strategic alliances entail the maintenance by each partnering company of its own management, identity, and ownership; and bringing mutual benefits to the table in terms of product, market, or other strategic advantages. In other words, this is a symbiotic relationship.
