ABSTRACT
Strategic alliances and partnerships are often viewed as competitive necessities for modern, high-tech organizations. Yet researchers have found that the failure rate for such strategic alliances is high. K. R. Harrigan estimates that more than 55 percent of all strategic alliances fail within five years, while the remaining 45 percent last only 3.5 years longer, on average. 1 Bleeke and Ernst found that “ the median life span for all alliances is only about seven years, and nearly 80 percent of joint ventures-one of the most common alliance structures-ultimately end in a sale by one of the partners.” 2 They point out that strategic alliances among partners of widely different sizes or organizational types are particularly problematic. Larraine Segil, who is rapidly becoming corporate research's answer to Dr. Ruth, also emphasizes the problems inherent in forging long-term, healthy strategic alliances among different types of partners. 3
