OWNERSHIP TRANSFORMATION AND NEW CROSS BORDER EQUITY BASED INTER ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS
OWNERSHIP TRANSFORMATION AND NEW CROSS-BORDER EQUITY-BASED INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS The growth of international strategic alliances between firms is fundamentally re-shaping the nature of international business. ... Strategic privatization has set in motion a new system of cross-border equity-based inter-organizational linkages as part of the ongoing process of ownership transformation underway in both developing and developed economies. To provide insight into privatized ownership in this form we turn to the alliance literature. ... Principal benefits of strategic alliances are recognized to include: reduction of demand and competitive uncertainty (Burgers, Hill, & Kim, 1993); building financial, physical, human, organizational resources and capabilities (Das & Teng, 1998); or minimizing costs (Williamson, 1985), depending on whether competitive positioning, organizational learning, or a transaction cost perspective is used to understand the strategic intent of international expansion. These perspectives provide distinct and occasionally overlapping explanations for alliance behaviour (see, Kogut, 1988, for a discussion along these lines involving joint ventures or equity-based alliances). ... The impact of cross-border alliances and inter-organizational linkages extends to the growth and development of industries and economies as well. ... Here inter-organizational linkages are understood as non-market, quasi-hierarchical modes of corporate activity, whereby firms use a variety of cooperative and collaborative mechanisms to augment their own competitive advantage. Comparing the ownership form of Telmex to that of Aventel and Alestra suggests these new entrants have fewer organizational capabilities upon which to draw.