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2006;23:382–389
property licenses, this book states that Chinese law on
technology transfer requires the owner to warrant that
‘‘the technology is complete, error-free, effective and
capable of attaining the technical objectives specified
in the contract’’ (p. 275). Clearly an honorable goal is
sought here; I can count on my thumbs the number of
software programs—or pieces of computer hard-
ware—that have operated error free in my lifetime.
The text also states that in China, the owner of IP
must also guarantee that the technology does not
infringe on the rights of any other person ‘‘not only
to Chinese jurisdiction but also worldwide’’ (p. 275).
More troublesome are the laws about limiting liability:
‘‘It also remains unclear whether liability limitation
clauses can be included in a Chinese technology trans-
fer contract . . . However, to date no court decision
exists as to whether this is possible or not’’ (p. 286).
In summary, A Handbook of Intellectual Property
Management would be a beneficial addition to any
organization that has internal staff making decisions
about intellectual property management. It is an
affordable volume and easy to read. In contrast,
Intellectual Property Law in China is most suitable
for lawyers or highly experienced IP professionals
desiring to learn more about IP rights in China.
Bradford P. Anderson
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California
Non-cooperation: The Dark Side of Strategic
Alliances
Wilma W. Suen, New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2004. 212 þ xv pages. US$85.00.
Strategic alliances have been widely touted by both
business researchers and practitioners. Ranging from
short-term projects (e.g., new product development)
to long-term, open-ended collaborations (e.g., alli-
ances in the airline industry), strategic alliances are
often presented as a means of decreasing the level of
risk, accessing new resources, focusing on one’s core
competence, and increasing flexibility. However, as is
often the case, there is no free lunch when it comes to
capturing these benefits. Strategic alliances also mean
reduced control of a firm’s own resources, and they
introduce the risk of imitating a firm’s expertise.
Nonetheless, most literature has focused on the ben-
efits of strategic alliances, focusing primarily on the
activities that favor building and maintaining alli-
ances. However, as far as the disadvantages are
BOOK REVIEWS
concerned, there is surprisingly little written about
why nearly half of strategic alliances fail.
Wilma Suen, a consultant in the technology and
airline industries and directly engaged in corporate
alliance issues since 1998, sheds light on lack of
cooperation in alliances that can result in the failure
of an alliance or a firm. Dubbing the noncooperation
phenomenon as the dark side of the strategic alliances,
she explores the causes of noncooperative behavior in
collaborating firms.
This book presents an important perspective for
new product development professionals involved in
planning, managing, and supporting development
alliances. Though not a how-to book like The Stron-
gest Link (Slowinski and Sagal, 2003) or a strategy
book like Alliance Strategy (Bamford, Gomes Cas-
sares, and Robinson, 2003), both of which were
reviewed in JPIM 22:1, it provides insight into the
environmental factors that will always be at work,
changing the basis on which an alliance is established
initially. Although the examples are more about
business alliances than about specific development
alliances, the big lesson learned is that important
and legitimate reasons exist for alliance partners not
to partner once a deal is done. Understanding these
motivations is essential in structuring and managing
alliances. For instance, following best practice at the
day-to-day management level to cultivate an alliance
will likely be ineffective in preserving an alliance if
certain underlying forces work against the alliance.
In probing the dark side of the strategic alliances,
Suen bases her arguments primarily on transaction–
cost economics: She posits strategic alliances as a
form of interfirm collaboration on the continuum
between markets and hierarchies; the alliances entail
sharing of the benefits from, and control of, the
alliance via continuous contributions of partners.
An important contribution is her use of international
relations literature to support her ideas. These exam-
ples provide the reader with a new viewpoint, since
strategic alliance at the firm and the country levels
share similar motivations and dynamics.
Associating alliances with double-edged swords,
she appreciates the motivation behind forming them
and acknowledges them as a useful means to over-
come perplexities due to incomplete contracts—stem-
ming from the impossibility both to predict all future
contingencies and to incorporate them into a contract
beforehand—as well as how they enable firms to share
risks and to reach their goals faster than they could on
their own. Suen emphasizes the trade-offs intrinsic to
BOOK REVIEWS
such interfirm collaborations. She submits that firms
do not always understand that alliances may require
them to give up control, to accept constraints on their
freedom to act, to commit to a set of partners, and to
forego some opportunities. She criticizes the view that
regards strategic alliances as a paradigm shift in
interfirm relations or as a panacea to increase firm
competitiveness. Instead, she draws attention to the
fact that each firm has its own goals and interests to
pursue, which may change over time. Therefore, she
regards alliances as ‘‘temporary commitments,’’ since
the conditions that necessitate collaboration may
change, and as residual options, ‘‘adopted in the
absence of other acceptable choices at a given point
in time and under certain conditions’’ (p. 6).
Suen focuses on why firms change their attitude and
choose not to cooperate despite all good intentions in
forming and managing their alliance. In doing so, she
identifies several factors and describes the relation-
ships among them, as well as presenting power and
interdependence as the means with which firms act to
manipulate such noncooperative intentions of their
partners. She argues that a firm may still want to
defect from an alliance even though the alliance might
have met or have surpassed predetermined objectives.
This might sound counterintuitive if we approach the
issue from an alliance perspective. However, taking the
firm as the unit of analysis, we can easily see how it can
be imperative for a firm to defect from the alliance.
This book provides a perspective to analyze the
factors that may alter firms’ attitudes toward an
alliance. Moreover, Suen presents a framework to
evaluate the extent to which partners actually need
each other and to determine which firms are more
likely to defect from an alliance. She also presents her
framework as a means for partner selection and for
assessing each firm’s contribution to an alliance,
which may be used as an indicator of natural inter-
dependence among prospective partners.
Though approaching a widely supported view in
the literature from a contrary perspective, the argu-
ments in this book are well defined and supported
with theory and case studies. In chapter 2, the author
presents the underlying reasons for noncooperation
and addresses the question, If the alliances are bene-
ficial, why does noncooperation occur? She further
illuminates these reasons for noncooperation in chap-
ter 3 and also introduces power and interdependence
as ‘‘barometers of a firm’s ability to pursue its inter-
ests independently of its partners’’ (p. 9). In chapters
4–6, Suen provides readers with real-life evidence on
J PROD INNOV MANAG 389
2006;23:382–389
how power and interdependence affect the firm’s
attitudes toward an alliance. The Microsoft case,
using materials from the U.S. antitrust trial, is pre-
sented to underscore the impact of power on avoiding
defection and enabling a firm to behave opportunis-
tically, whereas the Ballard Power and airline alliance
cases show how the dynamic nature of power and
interdependence may alter partners’ attitude toward
the alliance, as well as how interdependence affects
the existence of an alliance but also can lead to
unintended consequences. These cases show how the
ties among alliance partners can be manipulated by
formal and informal structures.
Suen believes that the limited number of case studies
and practitioners’ reticence are why the book is devoid
of a conclusive analysis of the dynamics of noncoo-
peration in strategic alliances. However, despite these
limitations the book still provides the readers with a
thought-provoking counterperspective to existing
views on alliances. The Ballard case study will prob-
ably be the most relevant to product development
professionals. Not only does it describe a successful
technology development alliance, but it also demon-
strates how alliance structure can change over time to
accommodate the macroneeds of the partners.
In summary, we believe that both business scholars
and practitioners can benefit from this book, for it
provides the reader with a perspective of the other side
of the coin. In spite of the fact that the essence of the
book could be presented more concisely, Suen uses
existing theories of interfirm collaborations effec-
tively, and she approaches the issue from a contro-
versial perspective with a mellifluous style. Her novel
ideas may be a source of inspiration for further studies
in interfirm collaboration research, and the case
studies provide practitioners—managers and consul-
tants—with insightful real-life examples of how to
manage noncooperative behaviors in alliances.
References
Slowinski, Gene and Sagal, Matthew W. (2003). The Strongest Link:
Forging a Profitable and Enduring Corporate Alliance. New York:
AMACOM.
Bamford, James D., Gomes Cassares, Benjamin and Robinson, Michael
S. (2003). Mastering Alliance Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide to
Design, Management, and Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mehmet Berk Talay
Michigan State University
Mark J. Deck
PRTM Management Consultants