IJMB Journal – Abstracts
International Journal of Management and Business
IJMB Volume IV, Issue 1
Emerging Asian ICT Global Players: Natural Born Collaborators or Stuck With Aliens?
Monika Golonka
Department of Management, Kozminski Business School, Warsaw, Poland
monikagolonka@kozminski.edu.pl
ABSTRACT
Researchers studying firms’ strategies have begun to recognize the role of alliances, alliance portfolios and alliance networks in improving access to resources and their impact on a firm’s performance. However, so far, most studies have focused on firms’ alliance portfolio analysis based on a single country only, i.e. the U.S. banking or software industry. In the prevailing literature, the cultural context has been practically ignored. The real “explosion” of alliances is a phenomenon clearly observed in the global ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Industry, which is one of the fastest-growing industries, directly shaping global communication and leading changes in many other market sectors. Within this clearly trailblazing domain, we can observe a rapid growth of inter-firm cooperative ties in the convergence of digital products and services — alliances, alliance portfolios and alliance networks, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Using a sample of 30 leading global ICT giants with 10,247 alliances in their alliance portfolios, this study empirically tested and supported the hypothesis that ICT firms originated from collective cultures are more willing to cooperate with culturally diverse partners, forming multiple weak alliances, than firms from individualistic cultures. Are they natural-born collaborators, or are they “stuck” with existing giants in the mature economies?
Keywords: Alliance Strategy, ICT Industry, Emerging Asian Global Leaders.
Click for full manuscript (PDF) or back to Volume 4-1, Table of Content.