Strategic Alliance Management, 3rd Edition

1 STRATEGIC ALLIANCE MANAGEMENT

DOI: 10.4324/9781003222187-1

In the early industrial age, firms created value by transforming raw materials into finished products. The economy was based primarily on tangible resources—inventory, land, factories, equipment—and a firm could formulate and execute its business strategy by operating autonomously and interacting with its environment through market transactions. But times have changed. In the current age, businesses must create and deploy intangible resources, including employee skills, information technologies and corporate culture, to encourage innovation, promote sustainability and improve their competitive strength. Value does not reside in any individual intangible resource, however. Rather, ...