ABSTRACT
Alliances are a powerful means to strategic renewal. Nissan’s alliance with Renault allowed it to recover from near-bankruptcy, becoming the world’s fourth-largest automaker in 2013. To understand how firms develop alliance capability for strategic renewal, studies will be discussed on the roles of alliance experience, deliberate learning mechanisms, and organizational learning as a multi-level system. Knowledge is considered to be a critical strategic resource because of its contribution to sustained competitive advantage. Deliberate learning mechanisms are conceptualized as purposeful approaches that help develop and disseminate alliance-related knowledge throughout the firm, to ultimately deploy relevant knowledge when and where it is needed. An important deliberate learning mechanism through which firms develop alliance capability is the dedicated alliance function that oversees and coordinates alliance activity. Articulation is the process of externalizing individually held, tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. Codification makes possible the diffusion of knowledge required for the coordination and implementation of complex activities such as an alliance.
