Strategic alliances and trust processes - a study of strategic collaborations between high-technology companies

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to develop an increased understanding of strategic alliance processes. A specific aim has been to explore the trust processes involved, and to better understand the dynamics of the strategic alliance processes. The study includes socio-cultural elements and captures both the manager´s and the employee´s perspectives in everyday life. The theoretical discussions were based upon strategic alliance literature as well as sociological theories. The empirical part of the study consists of in-depth case studies of two strategic alliances: a joint venture and a strategic partnership between high-technology companies. Interviews were conducted with people from the organizations which actually formed the alliances as well as with people that belonged to the parent companies. The study revealed the importance of high-lighting the social context which in this study of R&D alliances included a risk for a high degree of opportunism and fierce competition and was characterized by rapid technological development. This, together with the temporary character of the alliances, contributed to the contradictory situations in the alliance processes. The study also indicated the importance of considering the disparate conceptions the mangers and the employees had about important elements in the process. These elements were conceptualized and discussed in terms of the time dimension, and the frames and interactions of the everyday life of the actors. Unlike most present research which often focuses on trust at the partner level in a stable context, this study discusses trust in a complex and contradictory setting. The study showed the emergent and fluctuating character of trust and the need for continous confirmation of trust in the everyday life of the employees. The collaborations seemed to grow more unstable, uncertain and contradictory especially at the transitions between the different phases in the alliance process which also had an impact on the trust between the actors.