Companies that need to widen their international presence to access new markets can use strategic alliances to get there. International partnerships not only enable firms to access global markets, but they also strengthen their competitiveness by leveraging the partner’s resources.
WHY ALLIANCES MAKE SENSE
Internationalization presents significant challenges that firms face all the time. Major obstacles include the following:
- In-country differences in customer requirements, the legal system, culture, and language
- The firm’s limited resources and limited marketing knowledge of the market
- Local competition against established players
- Competition against larger multinational enterprises (MNEs) with a broader scope
- Critical timing in the race to exploit market opportunities
For these reasons, companies use strategic alliances to improve their internationalization process.
ALLIANCE OPTIONS
Several alliance options are available to a company entering a new market. Grouping them into types helps to streamline an approach that best fits with the market entry strategy of the firm.
Exhibit 1. Type of International Alliances
1. Single Local Alliance
A company can establish an alliance with a local partner to speed up entry into a new foreign market. The objective is for the new entrant to gain market access to leverage its assets, technology, or products in conjunction with the local partner given its knowledge of the market and access to distribution.
A local alliance is ideal for a late entrant looking to enter an established market where the competition is intense and the distribution difficult to access. The type of domestic partner may be a manufacturer, a distributor, a reseller, or a retailer – the decision depends on where the firm needs to position itself in the industry value chain.
2. Multiple Local Alliances
A company can engage in alliances with multiple local partners to access specific markets. This choice is ideal in situations where the target market is large and structured into diverse segments. A prime example consists of a market comprised of industry verticals, where the new entrant can establish several independent alliances without incurring conflicting interests.
For example, foreign companies entering China’s electronics and information technology (IT) markets mainly function by a domestic network of partners. The primary reasons are the size and the complexity of the Chinese market. The complication in this type of arrangement is having to manage multiple relationships simultaneously.
3. Single Global Alliance
A firm that operates in a global industry may need to enter into a global alliance to be competitive. Compared to a local alliance, a global one can accelerate the internationalization of the firm because it covers a wide geographical area and allows the partners to enhance each others’ core capabilities.
The objective of a single global alliance is for the two partner firms to pool resources and capabilities and go to market on a worldwide coordinated basis. A prime example is Spain’s Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar), a leading Spanish firm in water supply and distribution. The firm set up a global alliance with France’s Suez (a leading French firm in water supply and distribution) to co-invest and pursue common markets in Africa and Latin America.
4. Multiple Global Alliances
Companies that need to accelerate their international presence look for multiple global alliances to secure market access. As in the previous strategy, the firm seeks to expand its international scope through multi-country alliances, though in this case, it aims to grow by multiple, independent partnerships, instead of only one.
By engaging in multiple global alliances, firms can speed access to several foreign markets. Also, having several global allies means that the firm assumes a lower risk in the process, with the added advantage of gaining knowledge and contacts specific to foreign markets. These alliances are widely used in high-tech start-up companies where speed to market and global presence are essential.
A case in point is Aryaka Networks, a leading U.S. provider of wide-area networks on the cloud. In two years, the company entered Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, France, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and China through strategic alliances with local network providers.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Strategic alliances are valuable instruments for companies that need to enter new markets – whether capturing temporary business opportunities or central to the corporate strategies of well-established firms and fastest-growing start-ups.
They are beneficial for business opportunities that are large, uncertain, and where speed to market is essential. Under these conditions, a strategic alliance makes sense, provided it aligns with the market entry strategy of the firm.
Firms competing in global industries are more incentivized to enter into global alliances. These lead to a faster acceleration of internationalization and are particularly useful for firms that face international competition. Global partnerships cover broader geographical areas and allow the partners to enhance each other’s core capabilities.
However, strategic alliances are not a magic bullet. Creating and managing effective strategic alliances is notoriously challenging: they have a 50% success rate. Success relies on transparent processes, activities, and the executive team’s attitudes, behaviors, and management styles.
As a result, companies must take a disciplined approach by investing in a suitable alliance model in the context of the specific collaboration, new processes and standards, and adopting new managerial skills and behaviors.
Finally, the number of global strategic alliances is growing year over year. Companies that get strategic partnerships right enjoy extraordinary returns and growth because, at its core, the alliance concept is simple yet strong – employ resources you don’t have (and don’t have to pay for) to scale new markets quickly.
