Strategic Alliance: A Strategic Choice For China's Enterprises To Improve Competitiveness

Since the 1980s,with the surging wave of mergers and acquisitions across the globe,a wide variety of strategic alliances have sprung up. Strategic alliance means that two or more enterprises enter into a certain form of cooperation by means of contract or stock holding for the purpose of achieving certain desired strategic goals. As an innovation of the system of corporate organizational relations,strategic alliance has become an important tool for improving competitiveness,and has therefore earned the reputation of "the most significant organizational innovation since 1990s."This paper,by combing theories with actual case studies,illustrates the role of strategic alliance in enhancing corporate competitiveness,in an attempt to identify a new channel for boosting the competitiveness of China's enterprises which are facing grave competition from business rivals. This paper also explores the existing problems of strategic alliance encountered in actual practices,and puts forward certain proposals aimed at helping China's enterprises to achieve successful execution of strategic alliance.This paper consists of four chapters as follows:Chapter â… :The Understanding of Strategic Alliance. This chapter defines the concept of Strategic Alliance,identifies its unique features,and distinguishes it from the concepts of mergers,acquisitions and enterprise groups;it also expounds the current strategic alliances in their various forms,and provides a concise analysis of the current situation of the development of strategic alliances.Chapter â…¡:Theoretical Foundation of the Improvement ofCompetitiveness of Strategic Alliances. This chapter analyzes the theoretical foundation of the improvement of competitiveness of strategic alliances,in terms of the theories of transactional costs,the theories of value chain,and the theories of resources capabilities,namely the enhancement of competitiveness through reducing transactional costs,achieving the complementary core advantages of all links on the value chain and the complementation and sharing of assets of the parties to the strategic alliance.Chapter â…¢:The Necessity & Significance of the Execution of Strategic Alliance by China's Enterprises. First of all,this chapter provides an analytical comparison between the tremendous competitiveness of multinational companies and the relatively weak strength of Chinese enterprises,pinpoints the grave environment for the survival and growth of China's enterprises,and illustrates the importance of improving the competitiveness of China's enterprises. Then,the chapter expounds the low efficiency and limitations of the current forms of mergers and acquisitions through an analysis of the practice of Chinese enterprises' expansion through mergers and acquisitions. Finally,it elucidates the specific role of strategic alliance in boosting the competitiveness of China's enterprises,and elaborates on the necessity and significance of the execution of strategic alliances by China's enterprises.Chapter â…£:The Practice of Strategic Alliance by China's Enterprises. First,this chapter analyzes the foundation for the establishment of strategic alliance by China's enterprises,and provides actual cases to illustrate the application of strategic alliance in China;then,it points out the existing problems in the practice of strategic alliance,and puts forward certain proposals for the successful execution of strategic alliance by China's enterprises.