The choice of appropriate collaborative partners has consistently been reported as a key issue for contemporary managers. This study reports findings from a study which explored the process and criteria of partner selection - how and why partners are chosen. The results show multiple cycles of deal-making, partnership roles and organizational approval. Partner choice criteria focused on partnership requirements, but was influenced by additional factors. These results suggest that partner selection may be much more complex than previously recognized and could be better described as partner negotiation. <br /><br /> The researcher reviewed recent literature on partnerships, decision-making, and partner selection. Concepts from this previous work were updated with data from three initial interviewees experienced in university-industry partnerships. A conceptual Partner Negotiation Model was developed including three cycles of Deal-Making, Organizational Approval, and Partner Role/Selection. Our hypothesized Partner Choice Criteria centred on requirements, but were influenced by resource availability, social network, reputation, politics, and ambiguity. Two Canada-wide distance education consortia were identified as large-scale case studies for investigation of the research theory. A total of 34 informants were contacted. Written business plans, contracts, documents, partner network diagrams and 231 archival e-mails from 36 correspondents were collected and analysed for the two consortia. <br /><br /> The results showed strong support for partner selection included in negotiation cycles of deal-making and organizational approval. Partner choice criteria supported the need to meet documented requirements, but was also strongly influenced by resource availability, social network, and reputation. Additional issues of interest to the interviewees were motivation, operations, unit of partner, self-sustaining income, and integration to one consortium. As well, the Case Study Narratives offered deep, interesting insight into two specific cases of Canadian consortia. <br /><br /> The findings suggest that the formation of partnerships and the process of partner selection are both very complex. This research has provided new insights linking business negotiation concepts with partner selection. A model has been developed for viewing partner selection as negotiation. Three negotiation cycles of deal-making, organizational approval, and partner role/selection have been proposed. The research has identified four criteria that influence why specific partners are chosen ? requirements, resource availability, social network, and reputation. Finally, based on the complexities and issues from this work, a number of ideas for future research have been summarized.

Alliance means rather they share the same enemy than their good friends. This paper provides the view about this issue in Korea, especially the United States Forces Korea (USFK). It tries to analyze the relationship between USFK and the United States of America. Are South Korea and USA good alliance? It is supported by two minor research question which aim to find out the reason how USFK’s reductions gone through in past 50 years and how the history of U.S. foreign policy got changed especially in South Korea.   This paper used one case study with specific time line and events to provide the basic understand of USFK reductions within the framework of conflicts between U.S. administration and South Korea ministration.

Taiwan DRAM industry emerged on OEM basis, i.e. foundry manufactures based upon the technology authorized by the foreign owner. With the expansion of capacity, Taiwan DRAM industry has gradually increased its global market share. In particular, only those market players with 12¡¨foundry, which requires hefty capital investment and can significantly increases capacity, are able to compete in the market. The financial tsunami started in 2008, however, impacted severely on the global economy. DRAM industry could not immune from this, and the collapse was unprecedented. Majority of market players were suffering losses, and unable to afford the migration of manufacturing process. Taiwan players used to borrow to expand capacity. Four major Taiwan DRAM players carry an aggregate debt of TWD300 billion. Taiwan DRAM industry is almost destroyed by the high leverage during the financial tsunami. Facing the unprecedented difficulty of DRAM industry, Taiwan government raised an industry re-engineering (or consolidation, whichever is appropriate) proposal with an aim to enhance the competitiveness in the global market through changes in industry structure and business operation. Thanks to the industry recovery stemmed in the third quarter of 2009, DRAM price started rebounding. The financial difficulty of DRAM players was been resolved. The government¡¦s proposal for industry re-engineering was ended up with a failure.Taiwan DRAM players are still operating on OEM basis and lack of competitiveness in global market. Though Taiwan DRAM players have turned profitable, benefited from price rebound, it is still a question mark that these players can survive in the long run. As long as the structural problem remains unsolved, the industry players and the government will face the same issue again in future. When the next recession is coming, whether Taiwan players shall exit the market, or Taiwan government shall step in? Whether the industry shall go through a consolidation? This paper will present the migration of DRAM industry life cycle, change of business model, strategic alliance, and industry trend in future, analyze on business strategies adopted by Taiwan DRAM players under the competitive environment. Hopefully, this paper could provide a reference as to the development of business strategy for Taiwan DRAM players.

Abstract The main purpose of this research & analysis report is to suggest a working model between a world leading connector distribution firm and a world leading connector manufacturer firm that will guide them to improved sales performance, increased profitability, and higher levels of customer satisfaction. However, a lack of trust and commitment is keeping them from accomplishing these outcomes. Without trust, there is no commitment. Without commitment, there can be no meaningful change. The method of this research is to first analyze the theories developed in the past for working partnership between distribution firms and manufacturer firms and then, the empirical studies conducted for the same period of time. Among the theories and empirical studies, we focus on how to bond the relationship by using influence (or power), dependence, functional conflict, and cooperation. More specifically, these factors or variables are somewhat related to idiosyncratic investments and contractual terms which provide the two parties with the options to compare pros and cons of taking the next step for relationship bonding. Other ways that may affect their common interest are to form a strategic alliance or joint venture that will provide a competitive advantage for both companies to win the business in this highly competitive environment. At the end of this research, we use a case study to represent potential relationship issues that still go on in today¡¦s business environment which occurred decades ago. Then, we apply the theories and studies and provide suggestions to both leading connector distributor and manufacturer on how to strengthen working relationship in today¡¦s competitive business environment.

Due to the changes in the environment of pharmacy industry, consumers have slowly altered their mode of consumption from going to the pharmacy for the treatment of illness to going there for the enhancement of health. Products used to be the key concern in traditional pharmacies of which the sales-oriented objective results in seeking for the sales of products, but now pharmacies tend to adopt a multifunctional managing strategy, which is demand-oriented aiming at the fulfillment of customer needs by providing the best-selling products while eliminating the dead stock. The transformation of the mode of consumption fosters the managers of pharmacies to identify the importance of multifunction, professionalism, convenience, chain operation, and computerization. This research adopts both open-ended and focused one-on-one interviews. It examines the factors that would influence the success of strategic coalition between pharmacies in their inner and outer context, and also the discrepancy in the recognition of factors affecting the success of strategic coalition in this industry in different areas. By means of this approach, this research sums up the key factors leading to successful strategic coalition in different areas. The key factors that need to be considered when conducting strategic coalition between pharmacies are obtained through case studies, and these factors are: ¡§the making of governmental policies,¡¨ ¡§the reputation of pharmacies in strategic coalition,¡¨ ¡§an excellent team for business development,¡¨ ¡§developing private brands with a high quality and a low price,¡¨ ¡§the establishment of the web,¡¨ ¡§the administrating and distributing system between businesses,¡¨ ¡§the stipulation of marketing strategies and objectives,¡¨ ¡§the application of finance,¡¨ and ¡§the privacy and trust between businesses.¡¨ Due to the geographical difference among the northern, the central, and the southern areas, chain pharmacies in the north prefer indirect franchise through which all businesses can distribute products together to lower their cost in their market distribution, while in the central area chain pharmacies are usually made of one or two pharmacies, collaborating with each other to create private brands. Pharmacies in the southern area achieve a common ideal through participating as a member in the social meeting for study and learning. ¡§Simplification,¡¨ ¡§standardization,¡¨ ¡§professionalism,¡¨ and ¡§centralization¡¨ must be achieved in strategic coalition between pharmacies with which the professional knowledge of the staff as well as their service would be strengthened to meet the customer needs. The strategic coalition between businesses in different areas requires mutual trust, but the sharing of interest, the information exchange, and how to achieve joint promotion, joint training, joint purchase, joint logo, as well as joint development are all serious issues that should also be dealt with.

The working alliance has received consistent empirical support relating the construct to psychotherapy outcome. There is no empirical research on any particular techniques that may prove useful at increasing the level of working alliance. In this study, the therapeutic compliment is defined, discussed, and compared with other therapeutic interventions to find its usefulness in therapy and its ability to impact the working alliance. 120 African-Americans from a large southwestern university and a medium southeastern university participated in this study by viewing one of six mock therapy sessions that had one of three different interventions: Therapeutic Compliment, Simple Compliment, and Advanced Accurate Empathy. The mock sessions were created to provide two levels of session relationship (high and low). The participants completed three measures, the Working Alliance Inventory, Hopefulness Scale, and Accurate Empathy Scale, to determine the perceptions of the different interventions. The study utilized multiple analyses of variances (ANOVAs) to compare the means of the three interventions.Statistical significance was not found with overall general working alliance scores from the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). The individual subscales of the WAI, goals, tasks, and bonds, however; did reveal significance when comparing the interventions across one level of the session relationship (high). The interventions were not statistically different from each other in terms of perceived hopefulness and empathy. No significance was found when comparing the interventions with perceived hopefulness of outcome or level of perceived empathy. The implications from this study include a first look at the use of complimenting in therapy and a first attempt to analyze a specific technique to create an influence on the working alliance. Further research is still needed to understand which techniques are more beneficial at creating an affect on the working alliance.

This dissertation examines an increasingly common phenomenon in the post-Cold War context, the military coalition. At the heart of the dissertation is thus the question: what explains political leaders’ participation and burden-sharing decisions on military coalitions? In tackling the question, two distinct lines of research were brought together; the one based on alliances, the other based on foreign policy decision making. Based on the two lines of research, an explanatory framework was developed that combined the insights of alliance dependence thesis and poliheuristic theory. A set of hypotheses was derived and tested, utilizing a multimethod approach: statistical, case study, and experimental analyses. Overall, the results of applying the multimethod approach is suggestive of the strength of the poliheuristic theory, with a supporting role of alliance dependence thesis, in understanding participation and burden-sharing decisions on military coalitions. Moreover, though in large part the second Iraq War (2003 -) was used as the reference in much of the dissertation, an implicit underlying claim of the current research is that the findings may be extended to any broad context wherein the development of a military coalition may be a possibility.

Considering the current National Health Insurance system and the status of finance, many hospitals and clinics are cooperating or doing strategic alliance to achieve economies of scale. Although strategic alliance is common in Western medicine hospitals/ clinics, few Chinese medicine clinics have been done this way. Therefore, this study would like to discuss the behaviors of Chinese medicine clinics to understand how to use strategic alliance and differentiated business models to disencumber crisis for existence. This study selects two Chinese medicine clinics using strategic alliance to conduct case studies. After comparing business models and the ways of strategic alliance between the two clinics, it have been founded that the differences from business models lead to the two clinics have different motivations and methods of strategic alliance. Finally, this study provides some suggestions based on case studies in order to be referred by other Chinese medicine clinics.

Abstract Under the currently condition of he health care and medical financial in Taiwan, some hospitals already start the business management. The most successful case is Chang-Gung memorial Hospital. But due to the strong competition in the market, some basic clinics start to ally with their competition for more effectively using the medical resources and running. The alliance strategy gradually unify the basic medical market with their professional , fluently interflow, decreasing material , brand union, marketing and management. In Taiwan this kind of alliance strategy is common in the western medicine and seldom Chinese medicine has done in this way. This research is basic on the alliance strategy of Chinese medicine. To escape of the survival problem, the basic Chinese medicine clinics must understand how to use their area to ally and run with their competitions. This study is taken one Chinese medicine alliance as sample in Kaohsiung to start the research in order to understand their alliance strategy and how they run the business. The result of research can be the reference for the ones who need the alliance strategy.

This study is motivated by a desire to understand the role of boundary spanners in creating satisfactory alliance. Specifically, the relationships between organizational culture, boundary spanner, and alliance performance were examined. In general, results from an empirical investigation with 116 alliance experiences supported the notion that alliance partners with higher similarity of organizational culture perceived higher alliance performance. By the same token, higher capabilities of boundary spanners lead to higher alliance performance. Furthermore, the relationships between the organizational culture and alliance performance were mediated through their boundary spanners¡¦ capability.