查看文章

Strategic alliances can be defined as long-term agreements between two or more organizations, aimed at the joint pursuit of strategic goals. The creation of alliances is a viable choice for large, medium-sized and small enterprises (Roijakkers and Hagedoorn, 2007; Street and Cameron, 2007; Hoskisson et al., 2011).

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are in the vast majority of the cases entrepreneurial firms, characterized by flexibility and personality in the management of the organization (Gabrielsson and Huse, 2010), and these features lead to both advantages and shortcomings. Thus, the use of alliances among SMEs might support the pursuit of entrepreneurial goals, either by leveraging on the unique features of these organizations or by overcoming their structural limitations. In particular, among SMEs, alliances have been proven to speed up the new product development processes (Deeds and Hill …