Longevity of strategic alliances between competitors: A dynamic value creation approach

Strategic alliances (SAs) present both a high value creation potential as well as entailing high management costs. Research on SA duration has generally focused on factors that affect management costs. The underlying logic in these papers is that factors that increase management costs reduce the likelihood of SA survival and, therefore, SA longevity. The basic assumption is that these factors do not affect the rent-generating potential of the SA. However, we argue that certain factors that increase management costs also increase the rent-generating potential. In particular, this is the case in SAs between competitors. This view complements that of SAs between competitors as learning races. The purpose of the present paper is to shed light on the question of how the fact that the partners in a SA are competitors affects the SA's chances of survival and its longevity.