Resource and risk management in the strategic alliance making process

Resource-based and risk-based views of strategic alliances have not been adequately reflected in the literature. This paper identifies four types of critical resources that the partners bring to an alliance: financial, technological, physical, and managerial resource. It also suggests two basic types of risk in strategic alliances, relational risk and performance risk. The alliance making process is examined in terms of the interactive effects of resource and risk on the orientations and objectives of the prospective alliance partners. Managerial implications are discussed and future research directions indicated in the form of propositions for empirical testing.