CHAPTER 2: Value Creation in Alliance Portfolios: Integrating Configurational and Managerial Aspects

Whereas a vast amount of research has indicated that single strategic alliances create value for the focal firms, sparse work has been conducted on the mechanisms of value creation within a firm’s alliance portfolio. This chapter will address this gap in the literature by merging both configurational and managerial aspects of value creation in alliance portfolios, which have so far always been regarded separately. We develop a conceptual framework based on theoretical considerations embedded in the knowledge-based view and the dynamic capabilities view. In particular, we analyze the impact of multilevel alliance portfolio configuration on firms’ innovation performance. Also, we investigate the role of alliance portfolio capabilities by examining its moderating effect on that relationship as well as its direct influence on a firm’s innovation performance. We assume three inverted U-shaped relationships between alliance portfolio configuration and firm innovation performance indicating that a balanced portfolio has the highest innovative outcome. Furthermore, we presume that portfolio capabilities per se strengthen firm innovation performance. Finally, we hypothesize that alliance portfolio capabilities positively moderate those three inverted U-shaped relationships between alliance portfolio configuration and a firm’s innovation performance.