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Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 489–498

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Journal of Business Research

Do partners in international strategic alliances share resources, costs, and risks?

Lee Li a,⁎, Gongming Qian b, Zhengming Qian c, d

a

School of Administrative Studies, York University, Canada

Department of Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

c

School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

d

School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Wulumuqi, China

b

article

info

Article history:

Received 1 May 2011

Received in revised form 1 August 2011

Accepted 1 November 2011

Available online 5 January 2012

Keywords:

International strategic alliances

Resource/cost /risk sharing

Low-tech and high-tech industries

abstract

The international business literature posits that the major motive for international strategic alliances is to

share resources, costs, and risks in foreign operations. Based on the data collected in 233 alliances in lowtech industries and 192 alliances in high-tech industries, this study finds that the argument is tenable in

low-tech industries but untenable in high-tech industries. In high-tech industries, international strategic alliances are mainly used to mitigate environmental dynamism. The identification of different functions of international strategic alliances in low-tech and high-tech industries has important managerial implications.

© 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

International strategic alliances are voluntary agreements between firms involving exchange, sharing or codevelopment of products, technologies, or service across countries (Chen, Lee, & Lay,

2009; Gulati, 1998). They can take various forms ranging from joint

ventures (JVs) to licensing, cooperative marketing arrangements,

and joint R&D projects, all aiming at governing joint decision making

by partners in different countries. Existing studies have...