Asymmetric Alliance: A literature Review and Research Agenda

Alliances can be seen as one of the most popular ways to utilize and access a new set of skills, diffuse innovation, and, subsequently, keep pace with the rapidly changing business world. Among different alliances, the asymmetric alliance between large and small firms has received special attention from scholars with its increasing popularity. Large firms with material advantages ally with innovative and flexible SMEs with certain expectations. However, with existing power dynamics and dependency imbalances, such alliances are characterized by volatility and risk. To make such an alliance work, extensive energy and effort need to be put. This review article makes a critical synthesis of the existing literature crossing three stages of asymmetric alliance- Pre alliance stage (motivation, partner selection and choice of structure or governance), Alliance management stage (different management techniques as opposed to several emerging tensions), and evaluation stage (performance measurements). Major findings, debates, critical theoretical perspectives, gaps and further research opportunities are summarized and discussed in the paper.