CHAPTER 1: Alliance Formation and Structure Choice: The Roles of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Institutional Environments

The choice of whether to form an alliance as well as the choice of governance structures for alliances formed has often been characterized as a strategic choice made by firm managers. This characterization has yielded much to our understandings of alliance formation and structure, and it has propelled us toward deeper questions regarding the underlying dynamics of these choices associated with this strategic behavior. Two such questions are the focus of this chapter and the research that motivates it. First, to what extent does the nature of the institutional environment of a small- to mediumsized enterprise (SME) play in shaping the alliance choice decisions made by SME decision leaders? Second, to what extent does the nature of individual key decision leaders in the SME impact alliance choice decisions and, more specifically to this investigation, does the entrepreneurial orientation of firm leaders have an impact on alliance choice above and beyond that associated with the institutional environment. The answers to these questions are explored through an analysis of survey responses from over 2,000 firms located in eight countries.