Sorin Krammer

University / Organisation : University of Groningen

Paper or project ? paper

Title : Selection of international partners for technological alliances

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Abstract : Selection of appropriate partners, especially in an international setting, is a critical ingredient for a successful alliance. I posit that institutional distance influences negatively partner selection in exploitative technological alliances beyond the firms-specific factors documented in the literature. Furthermore, I suggest that the effect of institutional distance on alliance partner selection is moderated by the extent of colonial and economic ties between countries. Based on a longitudinal dataset of firms in the global tire industry, results confirm that MNEs prefer alliance partners from closer cognitive-normative environments, and from similar or better regulatory ones. Moreover, my analysis indicates that colonial and economic ties between nations moderate the relationship between institutional distance and partner selection. These findings offer a more comprehensive view of partner selection decisions in an international context, improving our knowledge on the effects of institutions on firm interactions, and their interplay with historical (i.e., colonial) and economic context of countries.