Organizational Learning in Strategic Alliances

The current context of globalization and increased competition has led firms to reconsider their internationalization strategies and to re-examine the opportunities offered and the associated risks. Strategic alliances thus appear to be privileged vectors particularly for multinational firms for their new establishments (Cheriet 2010). Indeed for decades we have witnessed a proliferation of this form of cooperation. All companies are concerned both multinationals and SMEs. This interest is explained by the capacity of cooperative relations to respond effectively to certain objectives of cost sharing risk sharing and value chain optimization in an increasingly complex environment. This relative importance of cooperative forms is accentuated by the speed of technological change and the high costs of new product development (Garette and Dussauge 1995; Contractor and Lorange 2002).