Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1992. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 264-272).

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

The basic idea of the diploma thesis is to analyze the functionality of alliances in the global economic environment. Thesis specializes on the particular type of alliance - airline alliance. It is structurally divided into three separated chapters. The first chapter follows the basic determinants of the alliances functioning, their structure, composition and typology. Its aim is to explain the most important factors necessary for understanding the main meaning of the chapters. It focuses on the main advantages and disadvantages of the companies involved in alliances. The second chapter focuses on the implementation of alliances in airline industry. It monitors their historical development, legislative and regulatory environment in which the alliances were established and exist. It focuses on mapping the European and American area. The third chapter compares advantages and disadvantages of large and small members of Star Alliance within the European, American and Asian market. It compares them on the level of regional comparison, and then based on comparative fundamental and technical analyses.

Economic, technological, informational, social and political factors are driving organisations to pursue different forms to enable them to respond more quickly to a dynamic and changing environment. The relationship between business organisations and stakeholders has been evolving. The internationalisation of firms requires the development of skills and knowledge to enable them to compete through cooperation in the form of strategic alliances. The energy industry is high profile in many countries as natural resources are considered to be of national or public interest. The development of activities in this sector are highly influenced by economic, political and social factors. In the energy sector, which is different from other industries, the formation of strategic alliances has been normal practice. In order to face the challenges of an industry where cooperation is essential, the expectation is that their relevance as part of business practice will only increase. Despite their popularity, strategic alliances have a high failure rate. Consequently, there is a need to understand how and why strategic alliances succeed or fail in order to enhance the understanding of their performance. Research in the field is extensive but fragmented and there is insufficient literature on strategic alliances which takes a process theory approach. Conventional processes for the development of strategic alliances fail to integrate the wider elements which influence the alliance’s performance. Therefore, the research aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of the performance of strategic alliances in the energy sector. This is achieved through a qualitative study conducting comprehensive, semi-structured interviews with those with experience in strategic alliance development. Findings and literature show that each strategic alliance is unique - there is no a single definition. There are different types of strategic alliance and this could contribute to viewing strategic alliances as complex. In a dynamic and uncertain environment there is a need for flexibility and the capacity to adapt and accommodate change. The selection of the type of strategic alliance influences the degree of freedom to manage them. This highlights the degree of influence of the individual over the organisation and suggests considering this in the light of institutional theory, and around agency theory. Performance measurement is complex and requires a multi-perspective approach which includes softer metrics and taking stakeholders’ preferences into consideration. Partnering is complex; managing more that one organisation is difficult as they have different cultures and ways of working. The sense of equity of rewards for each partner impacts performance. Change is natural and complex, expectations, interests and objectives shift and failure could be merely a perception. Managers in alliances are constrained by the structure selected. In addition, they can face a dilemma over a conflict loyalty to the parent organisation and have some concerns about the future of their career. Furthermore, they expect endorsement from executives who influence the alliance through their decisions on structure and selection of management. The skills of managers are, therefore, important in enhancing performance within each alliance. The likelihood is that strategic alliances, and the rationale for implanting them, is going to continue to be relevant. The increasing participation of communities in these complex business decisions is also an important factor for consideration. My contribution to theory lies in developing a holistic dynamic multi-perspective process model of strategic alliances, integrating different theoretical approaches, the literature review, the findings of this research, and, finally, my personal experience in the field. The model created in this thesis utilises the explicated data themes to provide a framework in which strategic alliances can be analysed and performance understood. This framework also has practical implications which assists in the prevention of problems and poses possible solutions to make strategic alliances in the energy sector work more effectively.

This research explores the determinants of inter-partner learning in alliances. The potential for organisations to learn from their alliance partner is well recognised in the literature. The Knowledge Based View of the Firm (KBV) posits that an organisation’s knowledge base, especially its tacit knowledge base, is a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Three key determinants of inter-partner learning are: intent to learn, transparency (i.e. willingness to share knowledge) and receptivity (i.e. capacity to learn). These three concepts are used to guide a single case study of an alliance between a National Sport Organisation (NSO) and a Professional Sport Franchise (PSF). Data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with key informants at both organisations. Each individual transcript was colour coded in relation to each of the four research questions. All relevant quotes were then copied into separate files for each organisation and categorised by research question. The results of the study suggest that 1) despite historical conflict, the relationship between alliance partners is becoming increasingly positive; 2) intent to learn was low in both organisations but higher in the NSO; 3) the NSO was more transparent than the PSF; and 4) receptivity was low for both organisations. Key conclusions of the research are that the NSO and PSF are failing to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by their relationship, but intent, transparency and receptivity remain useful concepts to explore inter-partner learning.

This research, conceptualizes, operationalises and empirically tests a competency-based theory of business-partnering performance within an Australian business-partnering context. Drawing on theory from social psychology and marketing, the research integrates a number of theoretical approaches including resource-based theory, competency based theory, relational factors view, relational interaction theory, and competitive advantage theory to explain why some business partnerships are more successful than others are. The results use a ???process model of business-partnering??? performance to explain the interaction process through which business partners exploit the available partnering related ???operant resources??? and how these resources influence the performance of business partnerships and their ability to achieve a competitive advantage. Specifically, this research investigates a number of important internal resources, which facilitate the building, and maintaining of external businesspartner relations including ???joint alliance competence???, ???joint alliance structure???, ???interpersonal relational competence??? and ???market orientation???. This research shows that an adequate understanding of how these ???operant resources??? are deployed/accessed and co-created by the business partners to achieve a competitive advantage requires integration of ???relational interaction theory??? into ???resource-based theory??? and ???competency-based theory???. The results of this research show that those firms that pursue business partnerships as a competitive strategy can improve performance by engaging in a range of activities, which facilitate the building of ???relational capital??? of the partnership. The results provide support for conclusion that ???communication behaviour??? is a central and important mediating variable in the performance of business partnerships. Overall, the findings are consistent with the literature in finding support for the notion that ???joint alliance competence??? is a direct antecedent of businesspartnering performance. There is support for the notion that the partnership???s ability to govern and manage itself is an important determinant of ???communication behaviour??? and ???co-ordination behaviour???. The results identified ???market orientation???, ???co-ordination behaviour??? and ???relational capital??? as all having a direct influence on business-partnership profitability. Finally, given the relatively high failure rates of business partnerships this research provides greater opportunity for a discussion of the kinds of intervention strategies that could be used to minimise the risk of failure and/or to improve partnership performance. Keywords: competency, alliance, business partnership, relationship marketing, businesspartnering competency, relational factors view, resource based view, relational interaction theory, market orientation, interpersonal relational competency, alliance structure, process model.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "December 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-86). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

In recent years, the beef industry has been forced to examine improving supply chain coordination in order to respond to the declining consumer demand for beef. Exploring the different supply chain structures being used by beef industry participants to improve coordination and provide consumers with differentiated beef products is important. The problem is that it is not clear how the different attributes often included in branded beef programs affect transaction costs and result in the formation of particular supply chain structures. This thesis examines what makes a successful supply chain alliance in the beef industry. Essentially, this study examines the sustainability and effectiveness of different alliance types and their ability to coordinate various branded beef programs and the product attributes included under these programs. A predictive transaction cost model is developed, which examines how different product attributes result in the emergence of particular transaction characteristics. The model shows how the structure of the supply chain adapts in order to minimize the associated transaction costs. In order to better understand the relative importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, a two-part empirical study was conducted. In the first portion of the study the relative importance of key transaction characteristics to cow-calf operators was examined through the use of conjoint analysis. The results from the conjoint analysis indicate that certain transaction characteristics, namely asset specific investments, limit the willingness of cow-calf operators to participate in alliances due to the associated transaction costs. Cow-calf operators placed an emphasis on premiums, which shows that while they are willing to make trade-offs and accept increased costs, associated with asset specific investments and price uncertainty, they are only willing to do this when benefits are greater than costs. To further understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants, key managers and directors of different beef alliances throughout Canada and the United States were interviewed. Based on the interviews it appears that alliances have typically limited the level of asset specific investments required. Consequently, the degree of coordination is not affected to, any great extent, by the level of investments required. Instead, the degree of coordination appears to more a result of how an alliance is aligned with a particular brand name label. It appears that greater coordination occurs when an alliance owns a brand name label or is an exclusive supplier to a brand name label, as there is a higher risk of opportunistic behaviour and, as a result, higher transaction costs. The use of grid-based pricing systems and the number of buyers/sellers in the market did not appear to have a significant affect on the method of coordination chosen. Based on the results obtained from both the cow-calf operator conjoint-based analysis and interviews with alliance members this thesis identifies several critical success factors and challenges to improving coordination in the beef industry. Most significantly, when developing alliances it is necessary to understand the importance of different transaction characteristics to supply chain participants. This research demonstrates that supply chain participants in the beef industry are willing to make trade-offs between the benefits received from improved coordination and the transaction costs that arise, as long as the benefits exceeds the increase in costs.

Aquest estudi, l'adopció d'aliances estratègiques per part de les empreses tailandeses, centrat en la relació entre la conducta dels socis, l'estructura de govern de l'aliança i la satisfacció de les empreses que participen en aquests acords en els districtes industrial a Tailàndia, s'ha operacionalitzat integrant la Teoria de Costos de Transacció (TCT), la Teoria dels Drets de Propietat (PRT) i la Teoria del Valor Transaccional (TVT). Les proposicions que s'han derivat d'aquesta integració s'han contrastat mitjançant la informació aportada per 503 empreses d'aquests districtes industrials aplicant unes regressions logístiques. Els resultats han donat suport al model plantejat i han permès contrastar pràcticament totes les hipòtesis formulades en el sentit esperat. Així, les aliances estratègiques que adopten una estructura que suposa la propietat compartida són més probables de ser més efectives com a estructura de govern d'un acord quan la col·laboració és altament complexa en termes d'incertesa, mentre que les estructures que suposen propietat separada són preferides quan els nivells de confiança entre els socis són alts. Els resultats també mostren com les estructures que impliquen propietat separada són més probables de ser escollides com a formes de govern d'una relació quan l'alta probabilitat d'observar un comportament oportunista es compensa pels beneficis futurs esperats de la relació. A més, els resultats de l'anàlisi de variança realitzat suporten amb fermesa que la satisfacció de les empreses amb l'aliança és independent de l'estructura escollida per governar-la si aquesta estructura s'ha seleccionat considerant aspectes de la Teoria dels Costos de Transacció, de la Teoria dels Drets de Propietat i de la Teoria del Valor Transaccional. Per tant, els resultats de l'estudi suggereixen la necessitat de considerar un marc integrador, constituït per les teories abans esmentades, per estudiar la relació entre conducta dels socis d'una aliança, l'estructura que aquesta adopta i la satisfacció de les empreses participant en l'acord. / This study, the implementation of strategic alliances by Thai firms which focused on the behaviour of partners, the governance structure and the satisfaction outcome of firms in industrial districts in Thailand was operationalized integrating the Transaction Cost Theory (TCT), the Property Rights Theory (PRT), and the Transactional Value Theory (TVT). The propositions were then assessed on the basis of a survey of 503 firms in industrial districts in Thailand. Logistic regression analysis results generally supported the model and hypotheses, suggesting the need for a greater focuses on the TCT, the PRT, and the TVT to study the relationship of partners' behaviour, governance structure, and satisfaction of allied firms. We further found that collaborative alliances (Joint Ownerships) were more likely to be effective as the governance form when collaborations were highly complex in terms of uncertainty, whereas Separated Ownerships were preferred when the level of trust was high between partners. The findings also showed that Separated Ownerships were more likely to be selected when the highest probability for opportunistic behaviour was compensated by the expected future benefits. Moreover, ANOVA analysis result strongly supported that satisfaction of the firm with the alliance should be independent of the implemented structure, if this has been selected taking into account aspects from the TCT, the PRT, and the TVT.