Strategic alliances are increasingly common among modern corporations and a hot topic in today's business schools. Alliance is a sophisticated guide to crafting successful partnerships, offering a combination of carefully designed checklists, up-to-date examples and scenarios from around the world, and the tools needed to ensure that all elements of an alliance are taken into account and fully assessed. Most managers don't have the experience or knowledge to create a functional alliance governance structure. This book fills that knowledge gap with a clear description of the proper implementation process.

• Ideal for business leaders engaged in building a corporate alliance and business school students
• Covers all of the available alliance structure, describes the building blocks of alliance design, and defines an effective process for managers constructing alliances
• Written by a leading expert on the subject who is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals

As the popularity and frequency of corporate strategic alliances grows, Alliance gives business leaders the insight and practical advice they need to ensure their partnerships benefit all parties.

Ard-Pieter de Man is Professor of Knowledge Networks and Innovation at the VU University Amsterdam and Dean of Sioo, centre for organisation design and change. A leading alliance thinker, he was the first European to be elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals. The author has been working as a consultant in this area for 15 years as well as teaching and writing in the academic field.

Foreword vii

Introduction ix

Acknowledgments xiii

1 Strategic alliances: The control–trust dilemma 1

2 The Alliance Design Framework 21

3 Turning suppliers into allies 51

4 Contractual alliances: The customization of alliance design 71

5 The virtual joint venture model: Air France/KLM, Delta Airlines, and Alitalia 101

6 Equity alliances and joint ventures 121

7 Multi-partner alliances: The more the merrier? 145

8 Managing the dynamics: Mutual adjustment and continuous negotiation 167

9 Designing and implementing strategic alliances: Art, science, and craft 181

10 Open alliances: Towards the third generation of collaboration 195

Appendix Financial models behind alliances 207

Index 215