Knowledge Sharing in Alliances and Alliance Portfolios
研究了联盟与联盟组合中的知识共享问题，发现鼓励合作会颠覆学习竞赛和联盟组合的传统观点，伙伴可能减少吸收能力或增加透明度来促进对方学习，且联盟伙伴间的替代性并非全有害。
We develop a model of knowledge sharing in alliances and alliance portfolios. We show that, once the issue of encouraging effective collaboration is put center stage, many standard intuitions of the learning race view and alliance portfolio literature are overturned or qualified. Partners engage in learning races in some cases, but exhibit “altruistic” behaviors in other cases. They may reduce their own absorptive capacity or increase the transparency of their own operations to facilitate their partner’s learning. In alliance portfolios, we show that not all substitutability between alliance portfolio partners is bad. We distinguish between substitutability in implementation and substitutability in rival benefits and show that the latter is conducive to knowledge sharing. Our work contributes toward putting the literature on learning alliances on a more solid foundation by emphasizing the importance of commitments that leading firms can make to encourage collaboration. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, business strategy.