<p>After the deregulation of the airline industry new actors entered the market and among them were the low-cost airlines. These actors are not involved in the same traditional airline alliance used by the traditional airlines to strengthen their position on the market.</p><p>Little research has been made regarding the benefits for low-cost airlines to engage in strategic alliances. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate if low-cost airlines benefit from engaging in strategic alliances or collaborations, and identify possible alliance configurations.</p><p>To fulfill the purpose we have used a qualitative method and case studies. Interviews with respondents from two low-cost airlines as well as an airline industry field expert were used to gather information about the thesis subject.</p><p>We have concluded that the low-cost airlines in this study benefit from engaging in strategic alliances. The low-cost airlines are using vertical as well as horizontal alliances principally to gain cost-reduction or efficiency benefits. Both cases were against traditional airline alliances due to the high costs involved, and the fact that they do not share the same motives for alliances.</p>

<p>Background: Traditionally defined boundaries and borders between organizations are at present being re-evaluated because of new and tougher demands. Today we can see a trend where these boundaries are being lowered or even eliminated when organizations choose to co-operate instead of compete. </p><p>Purpose: In order to create an understanding for the partner selection process in the newly founded joint ventures between the companies which are building the Swedish 3G Network, the determining factors are being studied. </p><p>Delimitation: The studies companies are co-operating as network operators but are at the same time competing as mobile operators. This relationship is in the literature described as co-opetition, which will not be investigated in this paper. </p><p>Realization: Taking our starting point in Geringer’s task- and partner-related approach, a simple model has been created for the task. Empirical data have been collected through interviews, and have been analyzed with this model. </p><p>Results: Essentially the same factors have been found determining for the companies which have committed themselves for co-operation. These factors do however tend to differ partly between the two joint ventures that have been founded. In the Europolitan Vodafone” Hi3G joint venture, compatibility between top management and culture&structure seem to be the motivating factors. From a Telia - Tele2-perspective, the mutual factors seem to be financing and compatibility between top management. An important criterion has in both joint venture constellations to the access to existing real capital and infrastructure as well as having existing customers.</p>

<p>Problem: An analysis of the compatibility of global airline alliances with EC- competition policy including merger policy and EC-competition law. Is the Commission’s current approach to prohibit certain restrictive global alliances the optimal solution to the problem of certain alliances’ anti-competitive effects? Can other conclusions be drawn by taking an approach based on efficiency arguments that recommend a trade-off between the efficiency gains and the inevitable anti-competitive effects of the alliances? Will the results of the latter approach be in the public interest and does it conform to EC- competitionpolicy including merger policy and EC-competition law? </p><p>Purpose: There are three aims of this paper; two intermediate aims, which are to introduce the complex nature of global airline alliances to legal practitioners, in particular the alliances’ impact on competition in the EU aviation market, and to illustrate the Commission’s assessment of the relevant market and its proposed measures to deal with the restriction of competition. Then my intention is to develop an alternative approach – “the efficiency policy” – and investigate its conformity to EC-competition policy including merger policy and legislation. </p><p>Limitation: The question on what effects global airline alliances have on competition is naturally a global question, which is dealt with by competition authorities in many countries. In this paper no attempt is made to compare the opinions of and the measures taken by authorities throughout the world; instead the intention is to analyse the current EC-competition policy and merger policy on the subject. </p><p>Method: In the descriptive part I will take a strictly positive approach and conduct an ordinary empirical research, i.e., to collect and present relevant legal and economic material that explain the legal as well as the economic aspects of global airline alliances. In the analytical part my intention is to analyze the Commission’s current approach towards Global airline alliances and to show how this has effected its decisions. I will then discuss the pros and cons of this approach with respect to the different interests that are to be protected by EC-competition law. Finally, I will develop an alternative approach"the efficiency policy"and discuss whether it conforms to EC- competition policy including merger policy and EC-competition law. </p><p>Results: Global airline alliances bring efficiency gains, which can be distributed to consumers, communities and other parts of society. Nevertheless, the formation of global airline alliances will distort competition in some of the relevantmarkets. The Commission, which appears to have assessed the relevant market correctly, will not allow competition to be distorted. However, the remedies of the Commission seem to be inadequate. The reason appears to be a conflict between the goal of upholding"workable competition"and facilitating the efficiency gains that global airline alliances bring to society. This problem may be solved by applying another competition policy based on efficiency, which would allow airlines to defend decreased competition in terms of efficiency. However, due to the structure of Article 81 of the EC- Treaty, an"efficiency defence"cannot be allowed under that Article. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that it can be allowed under the Merger Regulation.</p>

善因行銷之行銷聯盟在台可行否？ 發展一種模式以辨識必要之行銷和環境因素 / Cause-related marketing (CRM) alliances offer businesses and not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) a unique partnership opportunity to reach corporate and philanthropic goals. Since its inception in 1981 in the United States, CRM alliances have grown in popularity as a way for companies to increase sales and market share, open new market segments, build employee morale, differentiate their products and create brand image. For NPOs, the alliances have provided new ways to raise funds, reach out to new potential donors, increase awareness of the cause, and mobilize the public. While CRM alliances have been for the most part successful in the West, there is little in the way of research into the underlying factors that allow this success. For example, are there certain consumer markets that are more likely to respond positively to CRM? Are there environmental factors that encourage businesses and NPOs to partner, and that may not be present in every industry or country or do the characteristics of organizations themselves set the stage for partnership? These are the types of questions this paper address. By examining the factors that are shared across successful CRM alliances in the West, a new model is created that outlines the factors that are necessary to foster CRM within a national market. After introducing this model, we apply it to the case of Taiwan to determine if CRM is likely to succeed in the long-term on the island. We discover that business plays a strong role in driving the CRM movement in Taiwan, while NPOs and external forces play only a moderate role. Consumers, the government and outside facilitators, the other components of the CRM model, play a relatively weak role in bringing CRM alliances to the island, and therefore are the greatest challenges to CRM’s sustainability in the area. We also discover that the model needs to be modified to fit Taiwan’s unique environment. In the conclusion, future areas of research are discussed as well as recommendations and implications for the future of CRM alliances in Taiwan.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2008. / Bibliogr.: f. 137-141. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

In today's marketplace firms have to become specialized in specific technological aspects in product development due to intensifying competition. Further, the increasing complexity of offerings make firms become more dependent on other value-chain contributors such as providers of complementary and component technologies. Therefore, in addition to the inherent market of appeal of product, a successful introduction may depend on the firm's interactions with suppliers and even "competitors". These interactions with other firms in the marketplace present a unique set of challenges to firms. In this dissertation, we explore how a firm's approach to interacting with supply chain partners and/or competitors may depend upon how its product provides value to customers. In the first essay, we look into how a firm should design the interdependence between a durable good and a consumable such as a printer and a cartridge and utilize the benefits of an industry of generic consumable suppliers. In the second essay, we analyze the different approaches that firms adopt while commercializing their technologies to competitors in a networked environment (such as telecommunications). We identify the impact of the competitor's development capabilities on the trade-off between the increased competition and network benefits. In the third essay, we explore situations in which firms collaborate to develop a component innovation that they later market individually; they codevelop and jointly market; and they choose to individually develop and market. We consider how competitive strategies between development partners should consider the influence of supplier formation on the investment incentives of an OEM. In summary, this dissertation examines how the management of interactions with supply chain partners and competitors can play an important role in technology development and deployment. Our results highlight key trade-offs and provide insights for managers who are involved in developing and deploying new products. / text

As developed throughout the dissertation's chapters, I combined a number of different and interconnected agendas with the overall goal being to strengthen and revitalize the field of conflict resolution and peacebuilding research in a number of ways. First, I critiqued the past and current peacebuilding literature in order to present its theoretical, methodological and substantive gaps and inadequacies. Second, I argued for a recognition of the interconnectedness of methodology, reflexivity and knowledge/power in general, and more specifically within the peacebuilding literature. Third, my theoretical and methodological framework constituted a distinctive exemplar for conflict resolution and peacebuilding that begins to ground our research questions, methodologies and discourses as situated knowledges within relations of power. Fourth, I argued academic peacebuilding discourses and practices are not neutral but inherently involved in larger social relations. Fifth, I presented the critical narratives from the locality of Indigenous and non-Indigenous grassroots activists in order to shift the spotlight of peacebuilding discourses and practices onto the transformative possibilities of grassroots community-based peace building. I continued with a reformulated theorization of grassroots community peacebuilding as alternative geographies of knowledge, place-based practices and counter-narratives, important in themselves, and as part of a glocality of bottom-up transformative change. Finally, I conclude with a call for a renewing of the field of Conflict resolution and Peacebuilding based on social justice and community-based praxis.

An increasing global tourism offers great opportunities for Sweden as a tourist destination. However, an attractive destination requires competitive destination marketing strategies. Tourist destinations often include a complex network of stakeholders of small and large en-terprises that represent both the public and private sector. One condition for successful des-tination marketing is that all of these stakeholders collaborate in their marketing to create an integrated and powerful image. Another important aspect in terms of increasing the des-tinations competitiveness is that the local tourist companies are "export-oriented", in order to ensure that international tourists are looked after appropriately. This study has focused on the destination marketing of Stockholm. The aim of the study was to find out to what extent the local tourist companies collaborate in their marketing, how "export-oriented" their marketing is, and who ultimately controls the tourism development of the destination. The organisation in charge of coordinating the destination marketing of Stockholm is the local government organisation Stockholm Visitors Board (SVB). We interviewed them plus six local tourism companies to study if and how they collaborate in their marketing. The study showed that some of the smaller businesses felt excluded from the marketing activities due to lack of financial resources. SVB also has a product that competes with a product of a pri-vate tourist company. This result has a negative effect on SVB’s reputation as being the offi-cial representative of Stockholm, and leads to a more fragmented destination marketing. For SVB to change this negative image they need to build good relationships with the local tour-ist companies and adjust their pricing policy so that the smaller companies can participate in their marketing activities. The local tourist companies did however participate in other forms of marketing collaborations, which is a first step toward more integrated destination marketing. Some companies were more "export-oriented" than others, which mean that the foreign tourists are subject to varying standards of service. Despite this, the majority displayed an awareness of their role on the destination; that they together with other tourism companies form the "tourist product" that is Stockholm. Nonetheless, more thorough market research is needed to learn more about what foreign tourists want and expect from their visit to Stockholm. In that way Stockholm as a destination can become more competitive interna-tionally. We also interviewed the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket), which is the public authority responsible for the tourism industry, in order to find out who is in charge of the tourism development of the destination. We found that the tourism devel-opment of Stockholm is purely market driven. This can have a negative effect on sustainabil-ity issues. Our proposal for future research is therefore to examine which are the mecha-nisms that drive the development and how one can secure a sustainable tourism develop-ment without centralized control.

Competing successfully in globalized markets requires a complex mix of product, price, promotion and distribution. It requires novel approaches to ownership in overseas involvement and the development of new modes of global relationships. In response to these needs, new types of alliances are emerging as corporations endeavor to meet the global challenge. At the forefront of globalization, the telecommunications industry is experiencing a high-rate of cross-border alliance formation. / This thesis attempts to straddle both business and legal domains, on national and international levels, to survey the evolution of the telecommunications industry and to envisage the future prospects of multinational telecom carriers with respect to the conduct of transnational alliances for international expansion. Chapter 1 describes the changes occurring in the field of telecommunications, while Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 provide an essential understanding of the motivations and the modalities of cross-border strategic alliances and propose contracting techniques for the purpose of surmounting managerial and operational challenges that may be confronted when engaging in global strategic alliances. With a focus on the telecommunications industry, Chapter 4 explores the motives of and difficulties encountered by multinational telecom carriers in using alliances to expand globally, and examines their business strategies and performing phases. Chapter 5 further questions the necessity of using cross-border strategic alliances in an increasingly international competitive environment by examining the current national and international regimes with respect to the transactions of telecom services. The Conclusion reviews significant factors that may infringe upon the use of strategic alliances as a business strategy.

This study examines the issues of collaboration and competition in the context of oil and gas sector organizations. The convergence of economics and organization science literatures suggests a connection between the prevalence of extraorganizational exchange and the role of technology in driving innovation and growth. Specifically, the role of collaboration as a strategy for increasing the returns to technology and providing competitive advantage is explored in this research. / Two questions were advanced to examine the framework. The first investigated the relationships between a set of organizational characteristics and collaborative success; four propositions were developed to test this question. The second issue explored how organizations manage collaborative-competitive tensions in an environment characterized as fiercely competitive and marked by widespread collaborative arrangements. / Using a qualitative research methodology, thirty face-to-face interviews were conducted with executives and senior-level managers from twenty-three companies over an eight-month period; a questionnaire was also used to gather the more objective information. The sample included diversified energy, exploration and development, pipeline and oil and gas service companies. The majority of firms were located in the Houston, Texas area. / The most important implications of the study pertain to innovation and organizational change issues. Principal findings were that the ability to manage complex and multiple time frames was positively associated with an organization's level of collaborative capability, a construct that measured collaborative experience and expertise; organizational boundaries that are neither completely permeable nor fully defined were consistent with more successful collaborations; and the proposed direct relationship between collaborative capability and competitive advantage was only weakly supported. Further results indicate that three-fourths of the sample did not experience conflict between collaborative and competitive strategies, while those firms that noted tensions were confined to oil and gas service companies; and collaborative arrangements were motivated by three imperatives of capital intensity, competition and dependency, each of which led to distinct organizational outcomes.