A substitute for poor institutions? Interorganizational affiliations in the alliance formation process
ISSN: 2040-8269
Article publication date: 3 August 2021
Issue publication date: 3 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how the home country institutional development influences the alliance formation process.
Design/methodology/approach
A network of strategic alliances between 95 airlines over a 5-year period is analyzed with stochastic actor-oriented models [i.e. Simulation investigation for empirical network analysis (SIENA)]. Robustness analyses use a subsample of these airlines over a period of 10 years.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the membership in a firm group and a high share of state ownership are more beneficial for the number of alliances if the firm originates from a country with low institutional development.
Practical implications
Firms from less developed countries can use affiliations (e.g. to firm groups or the government) as signals to attract international alliance partners.
Social implications
Policymakers from less developed countries should support the development of (local) firm groups to stimulate interorganizational cooperation.
Originality/value
Firms form alliances based on two aspects: preferences for alliance partners and attractiveness to potential partners. Prior studies outlined that institutional development affects the preferences of firms for alliance partners. This study demonstrates how the institutional development influences the attractiveness to potential partners.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Sabrina Deck for her great support!
Citation
Rossmannek, O. and Rank, O.N. (2022), "A substitute for poor institutions? Interorganizational affiliations in the alliance formation process", Management Research Review, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 118-135. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-01-2021-0051
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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