Introduction: The review of the Case Study the Nokia-Microsoft Alliance in the Global Smartphones Industry provides insight into how Nokia and Microsoft announced their strategic partnership to concentrate on the growing smartphone industry. The partnership will improve the bionetwork for both companies by enhancing Microsoft’s mobile device strategy and lessening Nokia’s vulnerability in a market where Nokia was once the largest manufacture of mobile phones until the introduction of Apple’s iPhone and expansion in the United States and global markets. One of the main motivations of strategic alliances for two organizations that are already competitively strong is one or both parties may want to acquire critical knowledge, while maintaining their own capabilities. The review will present the problem, the issues, recommendation and a solution to the case examined.
Problem
In a strategic alliance, each company maintains its independence while gaining a new opportunity for expansion. A strategic alliance can help a company develop a more effective process, expand into a new market or develop an advantage over a competitor, among other possibilities. The objective for Nokia is to remain competitive in the expanding global mobile industry. This alliance will replace Nokia’s aging cellphone technology by introducing a new smartphone with Microsoft’s technology and software. Strategic alliances are critical to organizations for a number of key reasons: Organic growth alone is insufficient for meeting most organizations’ required rate of growth. Speed to market is of the essence, and partnerships greatly reduce speed to market. Complexity is increasing, and no one organization has the required total expertise to best serve the customer. Partnerships can defray rising research and development costs. Alliances facilitate access to global markets. Before embarking in a Strategic partnership companies must examine the benefits of the alliance. Combining technological agreements to obtain resources and competencies with minimal redundancy cost is a competence in its own right and an important component of international alliances formation. Managing, choosing and securing the most efficient alliances require the organization to conduct an internal analysis of resources, competencies, and administrative routines (Allio, 2008). According to Sullivan and Kim (2013)’the greater the level of exchange between partners, the longer the alliance will survive’.
The case study analysis emphasized the importance of the alliance between Nokia and Microsoft was a good one. In today’s market the concentration on growth and expansion must always be of importance to maintain competiveness in introducing new technologies to compete efficiently and effectively.
References
Allio, M.K. (2008), “Strategic databanks: design for success”, Journal of Business Strategy,
Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 13-24.
Sullivan, U. Y., & Kim, S. (2013). To love and win: Examining the survivability of non-equity
global alliances. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 7(4), 94-103.
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Veilleux, S., Haskell, N., & Pons, F. (2012). Going global: How smaller enterprises benefit from strategic alliances. The Journal of Business Strategy, 33(5), 22-31. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02756661211282768
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