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Alliances among firms are changing the way
business is conducted, particularly in the global, high-technology
sector. The reasons are clear: companies must increasingly
pool their capabilities to succeed in ever more complex
and rapidly changing businesses. But the consequences for
managers and for the economy have so far been underestimated.
In this book, Benjamin Gomes-Casseres presents the first
in-depth account of the new world of business alliances
and shows how collaboration has become part of the very
fabric of modern competition.
Alliances, he argues, create new units of
competition that do battle with one another and with traditional
single firms. The flexible capabilities of these multifirm
constellations give them advantages over single firms in
certain contexts, offsetting the advantage of a single firm's
unified control. When managed effectively, alliances can
strengthen a firm's competitive advantage and narrow the
gap between leading firms and second-tier players. This
often results in intensified rivalry, and the competition
within an industry is transformed. Alliances often spread
swiftly through an industry, as firms jockey for advantage.
Yet the very spread of alliances increases their costs and
poses new limits on their use. Gomes-Casseres concluded
that firms need to manage their constellations to enhance
collaboration within their groups, while raising what he
calls "barriers to collaboration" for rivals.
These ideas are developed and illustrated
through original case studies of alliances among U.S., Japanese,
and European firms in electronics and computers, including
Xerox, IBM, and Fujitsu as well as other small and large
companies. The book should be of interest to business academics,
managers, and general readers concerned with contemporary
capitalism.
Benjamin Gomes-Casseres is Associate Professor
of International Business, Graduate School of International
Economics and Finance, Brandeis University.
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