Changing the Rules of the Game: Strategic Alliances, the New Competitive Weapon

Geert Duysters, Arie Nagel and Ash Vasudevan

from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The rules of the competitive game are changing in an unprecedented way. The conventional stable environment has been replaced by a new competitive environment characterized by rapid technological change, increasing patterns of globalization, and competitors who no longer emerge from familiar corners. The combination of these factors has led to a situation in which firms are increasingly challenged by the need for complementary assets and know-how, and the need to develop a capability for changing the rules of the game. After a brief discussion on these specific changes, this chapter explains how to develop such a capability. We argue that the capacity to deal with the changing rules can best be met by allying with complementary companies: the need for multiple competencies drives companies towards cooperation. Finally, a number of presciptions are given that enable managers at all levels to determine their readiness to deal with their chaotic global business environment. This enables them to take a lead in changing the rules of the game. This should prove to be a core asset to companies that hope to survive in discontinuous, non-linear and intensely competitive marketplaces.

Keywords: International Business; Strategic Alliance; Mass Customization; Harvard Business School; Complementary Asset (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-51277-1_12

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230512771_12

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