Alliance relationship dynamics: Conflict, structure and control

With the current trend towards globalization and the increasing competitive and technological challenges of today's environment the formation of international strategic alliances has become an important part of many firm's international business strategies. Experience with international strategic alliances has shown that they face a number of problems, which can often result in the termination of the alliance. This study, was therefore, designed to assess the linkages between conflict, structure and control on relationship dynamics using a sample of UK-Japanese, UK-European and UK-American partnerships established during the period between 1989 and 1995. Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey amongst UK senior executives. The results show that conflict, the way in which the alliance is structured and managed can have important implications for the way in which the relationship is developed. Copyright © by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.