Ch 8: collaboration (final exam)

Question 1

What are reasons for going solo?

Answer 1

1. Availability of capabilities.
2. Protecting proprietary technologies
3. Controlling technology development and use
4. Building and renewing capabilities

Question 2

What are advantages of collaborating?

Answer 2

1. Acquiring capabilities and resources quickly
2. Increasing flexibility
3. Learning from partners
4. Resource and risk pooling
5. Building a coalition around a shared standard

Question 3

What are the types of collaborative arrangements?

Answer 3

1. Strategic alliances. Temporary relationships that can take many forms.
2. Joint ventures. Partnership involving significant equity stake → often creation of a new business entity.
3. Licensing. Right to use another organization’s proprietary technology.
4. Outsourcing. Contract manufacturing, another manufacture for us.
5. Collective research organization.

Question 4

What is the difference between capability complementation and capability transfer?

Answer 4

Pooling capabilities and resources of the collaboration, versus exchanging them across the firms.

Question 5

When selecting a partner, it is important to consider:

Answer 5

• The impact on opportunities and threats in the external environment
• The impact on internal strengths and weaknesses
• The impact on strategic direction

Question 6

What is governance?

Answer 6

The act or process of exerting authority and/or control.

Question 7

What are alliance contracts?

Answer 7

Legally binding contractual arrangements to ensure that partners are fully aware of their rights and obligations in the collaboration, and have legal remedies available if a partner violates the agreement.

Question 8

What is equity ownership?

Answer 8

When each partner contributes capital and owns a specified right to a percentage of the proceeds from the alliance.

Question 9

What is relational governance?

Answer 9

Self-enforcing norms based on goodwill, trust, and reputation of the partners. These typically emerge over time through repeated experiences of working together.