This formation of new business arrangements, in the form of strategic alliances, is the topic upon which this thesis is focused. Two new types of business agreements, which have been observed, are strategic contract-based alliances and strategic fuzzy alliances. While, contract-based alliances are new, in that firms are choosing non-traditional partners, strategic fuzzy alliances are quite unique as they involve trust. / The aim of this thesis is to analyse these alliances and the role of trust in business-to-business relationships. This will be accomplished in two ways. First, using Shapiro et al.'s (1992) taxonomy of trust and a neo-classical framework, a theoretical model of governance choice involving strategic alliances is developed. Based on transaction theory, this model is then used to generate necessary and sufficient conditions for trust-based agreements and supports an empirical model. / The second component of this paper is an empirical model testing the above theory. Using a survey of horticultural and pork processing firms, a multinomial logit model that explains governance choice is developed. Results indicate that: (1) strategic fuzzy alliances are less common than previously thought; (2) asset and contract-based alliances continue to be the alliances of choice; (3) firm behaviour, vis-a-vis strategic alliances is consistent with neo-classical notions of the firm; and (4) risk is a major determinant of governance choice. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20552 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Adams, Claire-Louise. |
| Contributors | Goldsmith, P. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Agricultural Economics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001642394, proquestno: MQ44111, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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