Strategic Alliances in the Japanese Economy: Types, Critiques, Embeddedness, and Change

Abstract

This paper provides an overview and interpretive analysis of the Japanese strategic alliance process. Both international and domestic alliances are considered, although the emphasis is on domestic partnerships. I argue that the domestic Japanese economy is "underallianced" relative to Japanese firms' extensive involvement in partnerships with foreign firms. This is particularly true if government-sponsored consortia and keiretsu-based tie-ups are excluded. Japanese companies appear, for a variety of institutional and cultural reasons, to have had some difficulty partnering with strangers and competitors and that has led to the formation of fewer synergistic and otherwise constructive intra-country cooperation arrangements than corporate Japan arguably needs. That pattern is changing, however, and there is evidence that the rate of intra-country alliances among Japanese firms is accelerating, particularly when the focus of the alliance is technology and innovation.