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Environmental uncertainty affects inter-organisational partner selection: The mediating role of cost and strategy in alliance motivations among SMEs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2014

Wei-Long Lee
Wei-Long Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of International Business, College of Management, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung,Taiwan, R.O.C.
*
Corresponding author: w.lee@kuas.edu.tw
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Abstract

This paper investigate the degree to which environment uncertainty affects inter-organisational alliance partner selection in small to medium-sized enterprises and blends the resource-based view in a multiple-mediator model in which different dimensions of alliance motivation (cost and strategy) act as mediating mechanisms that transmit the positive effects of environment uncertainty to partner selection criteria. Four hypotheses are developed and then tested on a survey data sample of 108 firms in the Taiwanese steel industry. Our research findings show the mediating effects of alliance motivation cost and strategy and understanding how environment uncertainty impacts alliance motivation (cost and strategy) within small to medium-sized enterprises.

Keywords

environment uncertaintyresource-based viewalliance motivation (cost and strategy)partner selectionSMEs
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 38 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2014 

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