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3. Review of Strategic Alliance
As opposed to the M&As, in which the acquirer invests in the majority of equity shares
of the target firm, strategic alliances generally involve only part of (e.g., joint venture), or
none of the shareholding (e.g., contract alliances) in an alliance. In order to distinguish
ownership-based and non-ownership-based alliances; in this study and section, ownership-
based alliances refer to joint ventures, while non-ownership-based alliances refer to strategic
alliances. Compared to M&A literature, previous studies regarding strategic alliances by
using Asian data are relatively fewer.
Because both joint ventures and alliances involve the problem of incomplete contracts,
the partners may engage in opportunistic behavior, and thus face the hold-up problem as well
as the potential monitoring costs when an alliance is forming (Chen, 2010; Lai, 2011; Wu
and Hu, 2009). Corporate governance and trust are critical issues in the research on strategic
alliances (Lai et al., 2014; Ang et al., 2015). Table 2 offers a summary of the topics and
theories regarding strategic alliance.
As shown in Table 2, few studies on joint venture and contract alliances using Taiwan
data have been published in the top-tier journals. The potential opportunity to publish
research in the top-tier journals, while adopting Taiwanese samples, needs to emphasize the
unique attributes of Taiwan data.
The issue related to alliances associated with business groups may be a possible
problem as business groups are a specific organizational form in Taiwan. Cross holdings, as
well as closed business relationships, among group members have a great effect on the firms’
strategies within the groups. The first potential issue related to business groups involves how
a firm within the business group that forms an alliance with a company outside the business
group affects the other firms belonging to the business group. What are the disadvantages
and advantages of this new alliance relationship to the other firms within the group? How do
the attributes of different business groups, such as the ownership structure or a firm’s status
within a group, affect value creation on the part of the group members?
Second, in Taiwan, supply chains with a completely integrated up and down stream of
industries present a specific attribute for Taiwanese data. Future research may investigate
how alliances affect the firms belonging to the other supply chains in the industry, and the
value of a supply chain, or how alliances influence the competition and value creation of a
firm among the supply chains.