The research in this dissertation examines strategic alliance formation using a framework that incorporates partner attractiveness as a necessary element in the formation process. Existing research analyzes alliance formation using a motivation perspective, an argument that explains why firms want to form strategic alliances, but not why some firms are successful in attracting alliance partners and others are not. The motivation perspective presumes that motivation by a single firm is sufficient to explain alliance formation, neglecting the fact that firms need to be attractive partners if they hope to form an alliance with another firm.;This dissertation argues that the organizational capabilities firms possess, not just those they lack, influence the probability a firm will form a strategic alliance. The research also posits that the organizational capabilities firms possess allow them to use alliances to control external resources when resources decline and to capture business opportunities when resources are expanding.;An empirical study of alliances formed by a sample of semiconductor firm start-ups from 1979-89 provides limited support for this firm-capability theory. The empirical results indicate a firm's financial resources positively affect alliance formation, a result that captures the ability of financing to open the door to many opportunities, including strategic alliance opportunities. The empirical results also indicate that firms with diversified technology and manufacturing capabilities are able to increase alliances in response to declining environmental resources and to capture emerging opportunities, indicating organizational capabilities enable firms to deal with environmental variations by opening up strategic options unavailable to firms without these capabilities.;Though the generalizability of these findings are limited by a single industry sample, the results do shed light on the importance of basic organizational capabilities as necessary factors if firms are to use strategic alliances to enhance their success. What this means is that alliances are not mechanisms for weak firms to improve their chances for success, but rather appear to be devices that strong firms use to survive periods of decline and to create advantage during periods of expanding opportunities.
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