Collaborating to compete: cross‐border alliances

Sets out to show that although strategic alliances do represent challenges for managers, they are a useful vehicle for international strategy. Finds that the average life span of a cross‐border alliance is about seven years but only about half of them are successful and, moreover, 66% of alliances run into serious managerial or financial problems within the first two years and nearly 80% terminate when one of the partners acquires the venture. Concludes with a panel (covering two pages) espousing that managers need to monitor evolving alliances to safeguard their own long‐term strategic interests.