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The article is about the protective provision in Biotech Strategic Alliances. It is written by three associates/partners at Morgan Lewis. The article is about the strategic partnership between companies and how large and small companies can structure an alliance to protect their investments as well as progress their collaboration.

This study examines the findings of a survey of small, high innovator firms and their assessment of the risks and benefits of forming strategic alliances with third party "complementors". The study found that the entrepreneurs of these small innovator firms were willing to form strategic alliances where such collaboration would assist in reducing customer perceptions of risk in the adoption of their innovation, while also enhancing the customer's understanding of the innovation. However, the entrepreneur of the small firm also needed to be confident that the alliance would allow him or her to retain control over the quality of the final outcome to their customer. These findings suggest that education of the entrepreneur in the development and management of strategic networks may be a useful enhancement to the process of innovation in small firms.

Open innovation through collaboration could be beneficial for various reasons, but participating firms must also consider the strategic consequences of their formation on the supply chain. This study is concerned with how open innovation through inter-firm collaboration and strategic alliances may generate value for competing suppliers by stimulating the adoption of the new component innovation by the downstream supply chain. The analysis specifically examines three types of firm interaction representing different levels of open innovation. First, in the joint venture, fully integrated suppliers would develop and market the component. Second, in the development alliance, partially integrated suppliers share the development outcome, but compete in marketing. Finally, independent suppliers do not form any kind of collaborative formation. The findings reveal that the value of open innovation comes not only from technology development, but also how well it stimulates the downstream OEM to invest.

Strategic alliances are a common feature of uncertain competitive environments driven by fast-changing technologies. However, research also reveals that firms find strategic alliances frequently to be more expensive, less efficient and more difficult to manage than anticipated. Alliances based around emerging technologies can suffer higher failure rates and incur greater costs than the formation of a new business venture. This paper uses a resource-based perspective to examine the variety of roles that, despite the problems they present, alliances have played in the strategies of three firms competing within the rapidly evolving handheld computer industry.

The paper concludes by presenting a view that the ability of a firm to set up and manage strategic alliances can be considered as a distinct organisational capability for firms seeking to compete in a fast changing competitive environment driven by emerging technologies, and indicates possible directions for future research in this area.

This paper examines the influence of the innovation cycle on strategic alliances. Hypotheses based on Utterback and Abernathy's model are tested using 86 strategic alliances. The statistical results support the influence of the innovation cycle, rather than technological intensity, on determining the structure and functional emphasis of strategic alliances.

This paper examines bondholder wealth effects in global business collaborations with the form of cross-border joint ventures (JVs) and strategic alliances (SAs). Based on a sample of 1,898 event-firms from 2009 to 2015, we find significant and positive abnormal returns for bondholders. On average, bondholder value increases 14.4 basis points in a 3-month observation window. We find that country-level governance and national culture are dominant drivers of bondholder wealth effects. More specifically, bondholders benefit more from JVs and SAs if they are from countries with poorer institutional governance or greater regulatory governance in creditor protection (higher creditor rights and lower shareholder rights). In addition, bondholders gain more when they are from countries characterized with greater individualism, less power distance, a higher level of trust, or larger culture distance. Robustness tests and subsample analyses confirm the main findings. We find a positive impact of JVs and SAs on stockholder wealth, but little evidence for wealth transfer between stockholders and bondholders.

The European automotive industry is a strong driving force of economic growth, job creation and innovation in the region. However, the green transition toward battery electric vehicles (BEVs) holds the potential to erode the European automakers’ lead position as highly competitive Chinese BEV producers are entering the EU market. This chapter explores how European original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can use non-market strategies to defend and strengthen their position in the EU automobile market vis-à-vis Chinese entrants. By adopting a classical case study approach focused on the European automotive industry, information was collected through interviews with significant industry and political actors, along with secondary data from diverse sources. By combining different theoretical approaches, we derive a framework to understand how European OEMs can use non-market instruments to protect their market position. The framework is used to investigate five strategic non-market instruments: (i) import barriers, (ii) subsidies, (iii) public procurement, (iv) public–private partnerships and (v) regulations. We highlight the importance of the European automakers to proactively shape and frame the non-market environment, and we emphasize the importance of strategic alliances and common ground among European car manufacturers to keep the Chinese competitors at bay.

Skill-based competitive strategic alliances are becoming an increasingly important form in the competition of international business. When they are formed, valuable learning opportunities may be created for the alliance partners. The primary objective in this paper is to explore the relationship among cooperative effects, knowledge acquisition and learning capacity within skill-based strategic alliances. We think knowledge acquisition is central task of the alliance partners, important condition of cooperative effect increasing, and is depended decidedly on learning capacity within Skill-based strategic alliances.