Strategic Alliance

A Strategic Alliance is a formal relationship formed between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations.

Partners may provide the strategic alliance with resources such as products, distribution channels, manufacturing capability, project funding, capital equipment, knowledge, expertise, or intellectual property. The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aims for a synergy where each partner hopes that the benefits from the alliance will be greater than those from individual efforts. The alliance often involves technology transfer (access to knowledge and expertise), economic specialization ^[1], shared expenses and shared risk.

策略聯盟是由兩家或兩家以上的公司基於共同的商業目標而形成，包括正式與非正式的合作關係；這樣的關係比單純是賣主與客戶的關係更深，又不像商業併購這樣的絕對。

公司之間形成策略聯盟的原因大略有以下幾點：

• 市場開發

例如肯德基為了在日本開設連鎖店，而與三菱集团進行策略聯盟的合作，以利用三菱對日本市場的熟悉。

• 成本或風險分散

例如多家航空公司參與星空聯盟的合作的部分原因即是為了結合各家公司的資源，並分攤開發新型噴射引擎的鉅額成本。

• 圍堵或吸收競爭者

例如雅虎與微軟開放各自所屬的即時通軟體（MSN Messenger 與雅虎通）互通，即是為了防堵 Google 的強勢進逼，並對美國線上(提供AOL Messenger即時傳訊軟體)造成極大的競爭壓力。

策略聯盟包含各種形式和各種規模，從契約協議到股份購買都有。