GROWTH AND PROFITABILITY IMPACT OF ALLIANCES - AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF TWO INDUSTRY SECTORS

摘要

The objective of this paper is to investigate the growth and profitability impact of alliances in two different industries that are in different phase of evolution in terms of maturity, namely information & communication technology (ICT) industry and pulp and paper industry (PPI). Particularly, we concentrate on the exploration and exploitation alliances and their effects on firm performance. The methodology of the study is quantitative, with linear regression analysis as the main statistical method. Our data consists of the alliances and the financial information of companies operating in ICT and PPI around the world between years 1990-2005. The findings could not support the hypotheses concerning the impact of performance. However, interestingly, the results show that PPI firms have a higher tendency to form explorative rather than exploitative alliances compared to the ICT firms, and vice versa.