Network resource stocks and flows: how do alliance portfolios affect the value of new alliance formations?

Abstract

International audienceWe examine how new network resources accessed through alliance formations interact with network resources present in a firm's alliance portfolio. We test our theoretical model using event study methodology and data from the global air transportation industry. We find that the market rewards firms forming alliances that contribute resources that can be synergistically combined with firms' own resources as well as with network resources accessed through their alliance portfolios. Our results also indicate that the market penalizes firms entering into alliances that create resource combinations that are substitutes to resource combinations deployed by existing alliance partners

Returns to alliance portfolio diversity: The relative effects of partner diversity on firm's innovative performance and productivity

“…The alliance portfolio approach to studying alliances enables scholars and practitioners to investigate the (dis)synergetic effects between multiple alliances maintained by a firm at one point in time (Wassmer & Dussauge, 2011. This feature of the alliance portfolio is highly relevant because of the growing evidence that firms frequently maintain multiple alliances at one point in time (e.g., De Man et al, 2011) and that alliance synergies indeed have an effect on the value derived from the alliances (Belderbos, Carree, & Lokshin, 2006;Wassmer & Dussauge, 2012).…”

Resource mobilization levels and the configuration of the alliance portfolio

“…Therefore, destinations are an appropriate physical resource with which to analyse access to network resources and their mobilization. In this industry, destinations are a key resource, whether understood as an element in a network structure or as a market (Wassmer & Dussauge, 2012).…”

“…In addition, there is evidence that each of the parameters of the portfolio affects performance. Alliance portfolio size constitutes an important variable to explain performance differentials (Mouri, Sarkar, & Frye, 2012;Wassmer & Dussauge, 2012). In relation to the second parameter, having access to various partners can be an important source of novel and diverse knowledge as well as other resources for the ego firm, which can increase its performance (Phelps, 2010;Vasudeva & Anand, 2011).…”

“…The first has centred on operational aspects (Casanueva, Gallego, & Sancho, 2013;Park, Srivastava, & Gnyawali, 2014) and the second on more global and financial aspects (Koka & Prescott, 2008;Lavie, 2007;Wassmer & Dussauge, 2012). Therefore,…”

“…Previous studies on Alliance Portfolios have centred on Alliance Portfolio Configuration (APC), in other words, who the partners of the focal firm are and how they relate with it and between each other (Hoffmann, 2007;Wassmer, 2010); on their management, seeking opportunities for alliances, designing relational governance and globally coordinating the alliance portfolio (Lavie, 2007;Sarkar, Aulakh, & Madhok, 2009); and on how the alliance portfolio affects performance (Lavie & Miller, 2008;Wassmer & Dussauge, 2012).…”