Purpose – Strategic alliances are often described as risky, dangerous, and instable. When firms adopt these strategies, they are confronted with a relational risk. Nevertheless, little empirical work has been down on relational risk in alliances. For this reason, this research is founded and...

When firms use alliance relationships, important decisions they must make concern: (1) How the alliance should develop in order to accomplish the parent firms’ objectives; (2) How they can manage relational risks in the alliance relationship. In order to find an answer to these problems,...

Purpose – This paper focuses on the decision by firms to commit and to invest unilaterally. It is concerned with the intriguing question as to whether unilateral commitments are mechanisms that help a firm manage risks in alliance relationships in a proactive manner....

Strategic alliances are characterized by inherent instability arising from uncertainty regarding a partner’s future behaviour and the absence of a higher authority to ensure compliance. Consequently, when firms adopt these strategies, they are confronted with a relational risk. This paper...