| This dissertation examines the crucial interdependencies that are causing industries such as consumer electronics, biotechnology, telecommunications, computers, video-cable, and mass media to converge. Firms now are increasingly exploiting opportunities by forming ecosystems of strategic links spanning multiple industries.;This dissertation seeks to examine the worldwide trend, reasons and outcome, of collapsing borders between industries. While receiving attention in the popular press, there has been a lack of systematic academic effort to examine this phenomenon. This study attempts to fill this void by drawing insights from multiple theoretical perspectives to develop a model of symbiotic interorganizational interdependence and empirically examine its relationship to industry convergence. This research also included empirical tests of the impact of convergence on four industry variables, product differentiation, vertical integration, entry barriers, and R&D intensity. Furthermore, in order to gain a better understanding of current inter-industry collaboration, this study empirically contrasted inter-industry and intra-industry alliances along the following dimensions: (1) industry evolution, (2) scope of operations and (3) trust.;A database of 3994 alliances for the time period 1960-1989 across six industrial sectors was used for this study. Empirical results show that technological, resource and competitive interdependence strongly influence industry convergence. Additional results show that convergence lowers entry barriers and positively impacts the research intensity of the affected industries.;A comparison of inter and intra-industry alliances indicates that inter-industry alliances are more likely to be formed in the emerging markets while intra-industry alliances are more likely to be formed in the maturing markets. An exploratory comparison of their scope of operations reveal significant differences. Finally results on trust show that alliances are more likely to be inter-industry when they have a shared R&D component. In the event of repeat ties, inter-industry alliances are more likely to be non-equity based and intra-industry alliances are more likely to equity based.;In sum, firms that wish to sustain their competitiveness in the current economic landscape of convergence must appreciate its underlying drivers (interdependencies), the pattern of alliances to be formed in the context of its evolution and the implications of trust in their portfolio of inter-industry and intra-industry alliances. |
