Jorge Walter's Blog

I am happy to announce that our paper was nominated for the Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper Price.

Strategic decision making in an uncertain environment: The case of learning alliances in high-tech industries

Jorge Walter*, Christoph Lechner*, & Franz Kellermanns**

* University of St. Gallen, ** Mississippi State University

Alliance-related strategic decision making within an organization is of paramount importance for the benefits of its strategic collaborations to materialize. In this paper, we empirically examine the strategic decision-making processes within firms related to their strategic alliances as a subgroup of effective alliance management. Specifically, we argue that the decision-making process characteristics rationality, speed, flexibility, and politicality within an organization significantly influence the performance of a firm’s strategic alliances. Our empirical findings from 106 European high-tech firms engaged in strategic alliances largely confirm our argument that a rational-comprehensive and fast decision-making style – in contrast to a more flexible, incremental style – is the appropriate response to the challenges of strategic decision making with respect to collaborative agreements in dynamic industries. Contrary to our expectations, however, this approach has to be balanced with a certain level of decision-making politicality to promote necessary changes and free blocked decisions.

Keywords: Strategic alliances, decision-making processes, organizational learning.