Do strategic alliances add value?: an empirical examination at industry and firm levels in European banking

Strategic alliances are a prevalent form of business organization. The critical characteristics of strategic alliances are detailed using Coase (1937) and the resulting definition tested through primary research and the alternative form, the infrastructure alliance posited. The thesis examines whether strategic alliances add value in the European banking sector through four types of analysis at two levels of engagement - a 23 historical review (at industry level); a review of over 400 papers in the academic literature; a questionnaire survey (at firm level) and in-depth interviews (at firm level). Bankers high pre-existing propensity to enter into strategic alliances is determined and three lifecycles, and the underpinning, conditions identified - Clubs and Consortium Banks, Bankassurance and the Virtual bank - the latter involving a fundamental change in Coase (1937) enabled by the underpinning technology. Bankers were found to be followers of potential business steams and the strategic alliance was one form of market entry. The questionnaire research, however, identified European bankers prefer to enter into alliances (as opposed to own branch or M&A) only in countries which had the appropriate supporting conditions such as definable, enforceable and terminable contracts, the provision of accounting information, stable governments and economic freedom. Direct discussions with senior bankers resulted in a number of valuable insights into the conceiving, forming, organizing evolving and dissolving of alliances. Further research into the infrastructure alliance, including 'oscillation' between infrastructure and strategic forms is proposed. The Co-Evolution Model of Strategic Alliances is proposed and taxonomy consisting of parallel co-evolution, convergent coevolution, divergent co-evolution and the subsidiary taxonomy of differential parallel coevolution, differential convergent co-evolution and differential divergent co-evolution detailed and further research suggested. Strategic alliances are found to add value in European banking but this value is contingent on the strength of the business stream, the global, national and industry conditions and the nature of managerial decisions and drive

Determination of Mineralogical Contents of a Bangle Shard from an Indus Valley Settlement through X-ray Diffraction Analysis

Some initial results of XRD testing of a bangle shard collected from Harrappa, an Indus Valley settlement located in Pakistan, are presented. The mineralogical structure of the bangle shard includes montmorillonite, gypsum, and quartz

Geochemistry and Petrographical Study of Langrial Iron Ore from Tethyan Hazara Area Pakistan, with Emphasis on its Economic Characterization and Depositional Setting

The Langrial iron ore of Hazara area has been studied in detail at five locations for its geochemistry, genesis and economic potential investigations. A maximum of thirty samples were collected from iron ore bodies at different localities of Bagnotar, Danna Noral, Tatti Maira, Najafpur and Jabri for detailed analysis. The thick bedded iron ore has been deposited in the form of unconformity at Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary sandwiched between Kawagarh and Hangu formations (i.e. Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary). At the base of Hangu Formation variable thickness of these lateritic beds spread throughout the Hazara and Kohat-Potwar plateau. These iron ore bodies are studied by X-Ray Diffraction technique (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), Petrographic studies and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). This XRD analysis indicated that iron bearing minerals are hematite with intercalation of chamosite, quartz and a proportion of impurities having albite, illite-montmorillonite, kaolinite, calcite, dolomite and ankerite. The X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) results show that total Fe2O3 ranges from 30 to 50% having high silica, while alumina to silica ratio is less than 1. The petroghraphic studies revealed concentration of Langrial iron beds as oolitic hematite nodule having variable concentric to composite structure. A high energy shallow marine depositional environment was deduced for Langrial iron ore, as inferred from SEM and mineralogical data. The overall results show that Langrial iron ore is a low-grade iron ore with average Fe2O3 of 52%, and can be upgraded by applying modern mining techniques to fulfill steel requirements of the country

Integration of differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar and persistent scatterer interferometric approaches to assess deformation in enshi city, hubei, China

Land surface deformation can severely damage socioeconomic living conditions around the world. This study aimed to identify the Shaziba landslide and further assess deformation activities in Enshi city. For this purpose, the sentinel-1 C-bands data acquired in ascending directions were processed with Sentinel Application Platform and Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) software packages. Our results revealed the location of a landslide that occurred on 21 July 2020 in the Shaziba area, Enshi Prefecture. More interesting deformation results were found in Enshi city for the first time with a deformation range from −51.6 to 54.2 mm/year. We conducted a thorough observation of different urban infrastructures such as commercial and residential buildings, roads, bridges, and airports in Enshi city and along the Qingjiang River to evaluate land surface deformation. Observations revealed that there are a number of influencing factors contributing to disturbing the natural environment and resources in Enshi Prefecture. Of these influencing factors, intensive rainfall is a major cause as are the infiltration of rainfall into the subsurface Silurian strata together with the load of infrastructure in the study area. If this issue is not addressed it could lead to devastating geo-hazard disasters in the future. Scientific approaches to determine various causes of frequent geo-hazards in this region are of great significance for developing early warning systems for disasters and ensuring the safety of residents’ lives and property

Do Strategic Alliances Add Value? An Empirical Examination at Industry and Firm Levels in European Banking

Strategic alliances are a prevalent form of business organization. The critical characteristics of strategic alliances are detailed using Coase (1937) and the resulting definition tested through primary research and the alternative form, the infrastructure alliance posited. The thesis examines whether strategic alliances add value in the European banking sector through four types of analysis at two levels of engagement - a 23 historical review (at industry level); a review of over 400 papers in the academic literature; a questionnaire survey (at firm level) and in-depth interviews (at firm level). Bankers high pre-existing propensity to enter into strategic alliances is determined and three lifecycles, and the underpinning, conditions identified - Clubs and Consortium Banks, Bankassurance and the Virtual bank - the latter involving a fundamental change in Coase (1937) enabled by the underpinning technology. Bankers were found to be followers of potential business steams and the strategic alliance was one form of market entry. The questionnaire research, however, identified European bankers prefer to enter into alliances (as opposed to own branch or M&A) only in countries which had the appropriate supporting conditions such as definable, enforceable and terminable contracts, the provision of accounting information, stable governments and economic freedom. Direct discussions with senior bankers resulted in a number of valuable insights into the conceiving, forming, organizing evolving and dissolving of alliances. Further research into the infrastructure alliance, including 'oscillation' between infrastructure and strategic forms is proposed. The Co-Evolution Model of Strategic Alliances is proposed and taxonomy consisting of parallel co-evolution, convergent coevolution, divergent co-evolution and the subsidiary taxonomy of differential parallel coevolution, differential convergent co-evolution and differential divergent co-evolution detailed and further research suggested. Strategic alliances are found to add value in European banking but this value is contingent on the strength of the business stream, the global, national and industry conditions and the nature of managerial decisions and drive