ABSTRACT
Alliance evaluation is complex, owing primarily to the multifaceted nature of alliance performance. Most alliance managers focus on intentional outcomes, but they often neglect assessments of emergent objectives, relational processes and intangible outcomes. To develop and use performance metric systems, alliance managers must understand the nature of alliance performance and the issues associated with metrics. Obtaining insights into various performance metric approaches supports the development of a balanced performance metric system. The chapter provides a systematic framework with a set of decision-making steps for alliance evaluation. Performance metric systems should account for relational processes by explicitly incorporating metrics that capture partner dynamics. The implementation metrics might focus on execution, implementation, remediation, restructuring, re-evaluation, renegotiation, relaunch and termination. The chapter presents five performance approaches that together constitute the foundation for a generic performance metric system: economic, strategic, operational, learning and relational. It provides a summary before concluding with some case illustrations.
