INTERDEPENDENCE, CULTURAL CONGRUENCE, AND SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN ALLIANCE PARTNERS: THE DETERMINANTS OF GLOBAL STRATEGIC ALLIANCE SURVIVAL.

This study examined the three key determinants of global strategic alliance survival. Global strategic alliances have suffered from high termination rate which has drawn researchers' attention to unveil the alliance survival phenomena. However, the research on why some global strategic alliances survive longer than others remains fragmented. The lack of the systematic accumulation of past research efforts calls for the need of integrative and theoretical framework for the analysis of global strategic alliance survival. In response to this call, this study developed the integrative model that incorporated the strategic, cultural, and social aspects of global strategic alliance survival; and empirically examined the impact of the three key survival determinants (i.e., interdependence from the strategic aspect, cultural congruence from the cultural aspect, and social connectedness between alliance partners from the social aspect) on the survival of global strategic alliances. Event history analysis was used to test the hypotheses in a sample of 487 manufacturing global strategic alliances which involved one or more Japanese firms in Asia, North America, and Europe. The results showed that interdependence had more pivotal effects on the global strategic alliance survival than the cultural congruence and social connectedness between alliance partners. Finally, the findings provided several suggestions for future theory development and managerial implications for strategic decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]