Building competitive advantage through technology alliances

Summary form only given. The high growth of strategic alliances and technology partnerships is fueled primarily by forces outside the control of corporate stewards: globalization, technological growth and socio-political factors. Continuous technological advancement is the objective and landmark of successful corporations. Limited corporate resources, escalating R&D costs and today's much larger pool of innovation sources make technology alliances a practical tool for attaining this objective. Relative to the past, more companies now look outside their R&D confines for their next technological breakthrough. Universities have been a party to a large extend in this development. Although university partnerships fall short of two important criteria for optimizing partnering success compatibility with business missions and long-term commitment-they are an important partner in helping industry to attain competitive advantage. The author proposes an alliance development model which has withstood the test of numerous such partnerships and alliances. Starting with the design of the right logic for a technology alliance to establishing partner selection criteria, this process follows a path thought to improve chances for success in this field, where failures exceed successes all too frequently. Guidelines for managing technology alliances-Golden Rules-are offered. The paper concludes with an optimistic outlook for technology alliances and similar partnerships between all types of enterprises.