Strategic Alliance Pattern Evaluation Model for Taiwan’s Machine Tool Industry: A Hierarchical DEMATEL Method

The worldwide machine tool market is anticipated to reach a value of USD 68.9 billion by 2021, from USD 65.6 billion in 2020. This projection is based on the progressive production drop within the car industry, which is the largest customer of machine devices, and supply chain disruption. The machine tool industry in Taiwan faces a severe challenge and has been unobtrusively experiencing an inner reshuffling and innovative transformation. The developing strategic alliances reflect a basic endeavor by numerous firms to improve their specialized capabilities. This study applied the DEMATEL, a suitable method for gathering group knowledge to form a structural model and visualize the casual relationship between subsystems through a casual diagram, revealing that the causal relationships between measurement criteria and the proposed model can provide a viable assessment of the alliance with satisfactory criteria that fit the decision-makers requirements, especially when the assessment criteria are various and interrelated. Financial resources were the strongest factor within the strategic behavior dimension (D1), whereas the minimize manufacturing cost was the foremost basic determinant in the cost perspective (D2). The specialists also demonstrated that obtaining dominant technology was a determinative component within organizational learning (D3). This paper offers proposals for government authorities to plan a machine tools industry strategy for Taiwan and for companies to formulate business directions for long-run advancement.

How knowledge acquisition creates a competitive edge? A qualitative inquiry from international consultancy alliance

PurposeThe current study attempts to bridge the existing gap related to the role of knowledge acquisition from international alliance partners to improve competitiveness by examining the distinct processes of knowledge acquisition and the challenges confronted in this learning process in order to enhance local and international market performance.Design/methodology/approachFollowing case-study approach based on systematic combining, the study presents a case of knowledge acquisition and learning in the context of an international consultancy alliance between leading Pakistani and Chinese engineering firms using six in-depth interviews of key engineers to explore the dynamic mechanisms for knowledge acquisition and learning from the Chinese firm. Grounded analysis drawn upon the Straussian version of grounded theory (GT) {{Strauss, 1990 #136} Strauss, 1998 #139} is used for data analysis in this research.FindingsIt was found that the processes of explicit and implicit knowledge acquisition from Chinese firms are integrated consultancy working, social and technical adaptability and seeking confirmation about the work done and knowledge/theories and models used in work. However, these processes are quite complex, posing serious challenges for National Engineering Services, Pakistan to acquire the required knowledge, which can be addressed through partners' motivation to share and acquire knowledge, cultural intelligence and friendship and informal association. The study also found that the knowledge acquired from technologically advanced international organizations by the host partner in the international strategic alliance not only provides a competitive edge to the local host in its local market but also builds its capacity to undertake similar projects in other parts of the world, substantially enhancing its market success.Originality/valueAdding up to the current literature that focuses on knowledge acquisition in a parent-subsidiary relationship, the current research proposes a framework for knowledge acquisition in the unique context of international strategic alliances. The research provides managerial guidelines to manage knowledge acquisition for gaining a competitive edge that would be helpful for the managers in the era of growing interdependence among the organizations across the borders.

Investigating the Role of Alliance Knowledge Learning and Institutional Isomorphism in Strategic Alliance Performance of Green Supply Chain

As the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic disordered the majority of all global supply chains, alliance knowledge learning played a fundamental function during the crisis. This paper aims to identify the relationships of both alliance green knowledge learning and institutional processes with the alliance performance of the green supply chain. It also specifies the mechanism by which Institutional isomorphism affects green innovation performance, through alliance institutional processes and further to increase their competitive advantage in the global market. Data were collected with questionnaires distributed to Taiwanese companies that are listed on the stock market which produced 242 usable responses for the analysis, both multiple regression analyses and SEM were used to test the hypotheses. Our results showed that the majority of our hypotheses were supported, which is similar to the existing literature. The outcomes imply that institutionalization processes and alliance green knowledge sharing play salient functions in firm alliance performance while implemented in the context of green supply chain management. Furthermore, the results indicate that the concept of institutionalization and isomorphism are relevant and Mimetic pressures were found to be the most significant in both internal and external green SCM practices, while also providing instructive managerial implications through empirical evidence.

EFFECT OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCE AND PARTNERSHIP ON THE SURVIVAL OF MSMEs POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Research background: This study was conducted as a result of the challenges that confront MSMEs globally, especially in Nigeria, due to the lockdown occasioned by COVID-19. A descriptive research design (quantitative analysis) was adopted, while primary data were employed for the study. Purpose of the article: The population for the study was 587 MSMEs from the Ojo local government area of Lagos State, Nigeria, with a sample size of 234 derived using the Taro Yamane (1967) techniques. A total of 240 questionnaires were distributed, allowing room for errors, and 228 of them were returned usable for the study, constituting a 95% response rate for the study. Methods: Content validity was adopted. A reliability test was conducted using Cronbach’s Alpha, which returned a value of 0.869, indicating internal consistency of the research instrument. Descriptive statistics (means and simple percentages) were used to analyse the data, alongside regression and Pearson’s correlation coefficients. The findings revealed that a strategic alliance and partnership could positively affect MSMES survival post-COVID-19 in Nigeria, with a p-value of 0.000<0.05, and that its impact on the performance of MSMEs in the Nigerian economy post-Covid-19 was statistically significant and positive, with a correlation coefficient of 0.824 (82.4%) and a p-value of 0.000<0.05. Findings & Value added: The results and findings suggest that a strategic alliance and partnership is indeed a veritable tool for MSMEs’ survival post-COVID-19 in Nigeria.

Strategic Alliance and Acquisition Performance: Impact of Interfirm Synergies and Motives in the Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry

This study draws on transaction cost, resource dependence, and organizational learning theories to posit relationships between transaction performance and transaction structure (alliances versus acquisitions), interfirm synergies, and motives. The study involves analysis of 66 international and intra­national alliances and acquisitions that were undertaken in the pharmaceutical industry. An initial survey was administered to firms involved in these transactions to gather information regarding motives, transaction structure, and interorganizational synergies. A second survey was administered two years after the transaction to gather information on transaction performance. Findings support the importance of transaction structure and strategic synergies between firms. Specifically, transaction structure and high levels of strategic fit between the firms had a positive impact on performance. There is also some evidence that synergies must be linked to the motives driving the transaction. The study yields meaningful results regarding factors leading to success of transactions (alliances and acquisitions) in a longitudinal study of intranational and international transactions in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Cattle Grazing and Forest Devastation in Brazil

This article examines the history and present-day dynamics of deforestation and cattle grazing in Brazil’s Amazon. It discusses the long-standing strategic alliance between agribusiness and the Brazilian state, as well as the role of livestock grazing in Brazil’s developmental ideology of the frontier. It shows how the livestock industry is enlaced with soy production in the deterritorialization and deforestation of the Amazon, as well as the legalized theft of indigenous lands. It places these Brazilian dynamics into larger international context and analyses the class structure and state capture of Brazil’s agro-industrial sector.

The drivers of the post-entry internationalisation commitment of small and medium-sized enterprises

By integrating relational embeddedness in international strategic alliance networks (ISANs) and the dynamic capability perspective, this article presents an examination of the drivers of the post-entry internationalisation commitment of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, we investigated the mediating effect of opportunity-sensing capabilities (OSCs) on the relationship between ISAN relational embeddedness and the post-entry internationalisation commitment of SMEs. We also examined the moderating impact of strategic adaptiveness on the relationship between OSCs and post-entry internationalisation commitment. An analysis of 320 UK-based SMEs, performed using structural equation modelling, revealed that OSCs are an important mechanism through which the ISAN relational embeddedness leads to increased post-entry internationalisation commitment. Furthermore, strategic adaptiveness strengthens the positive relationship between OSCs and post-entry commitment to foreign markets. This article extends the existing SME venturing and internationalisation literature to the domain of SME post-entry internationalisation commitment.