The Institutional Effects on Strategic Alliance Partner Selection in Transition Economies: China vs. Russia

Michael A. Hitt (), David Ahlstrom (), M. Tina Dacin (), Edward Levitas () and Lilia Svobodina ()
Additional contact information
Michael A. Hitt: Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-4221
David Ahlstrom: Department of Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT Hong Kong
M. Tina Dacin: Queen's School of Business, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
Edward Levitas: School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211
Lilia Svobodina: St. Petersburg University of Economics and Finance, 21 Sadovaya Str., St. Petersburg 191023, Russia

Organization Science, 2004, vol. 15, issue 2, 173-185

Abstract: China and Russia represent major economies in transition from command economies, yet their paths to the market have differed greatly. Their divergent approaches have helped create distinct institutional environments. This study focuses on a particularly important strategic decision firms face—alliance partner selection. The study's results suggest that China's more stable and supportive institutional environment has helped Chinese firms take a longer-term view of alliance partner selection, focusing more on the potential partner's intangible assets along with technological and managerial capabilities. In contrast, the less stable Russian institutional environment has influenced Russian managers to focus more on the short term, selecting partners that provide access to financial capital and complementary capabilities so as to enhance their firms—ability to weather that nation's turbulent environment. This study contributes to knowledge about the influence of the institutional environment on alliance partner selection decisions for firms domiciled in transition (and emerging) economies.

Keywords: institutional theory; strategic alliances; partner selection; transition economies; China; Russia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (199)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1030.0045 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:15:y:2004:i:2:p:173-185

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().