How alliances are reshaping telecommunications

The global telecommunication industry is undergoing tremendous change due to privatization and deregulation, evolving technological capabilities and increased competition. As competitive boundaries are shifting in service provision, firms need to acquire new skills to succeed in the future; and a major avenue for a firm to acquire new capabilities is through the formation of strategic alliances. Based on Miles and Snow's strategic orientation framework, the authors develop a framework to analyze the strategic alliances within the telecom industry. They study the alliance activities of 21 U.S. based telecom service firms from 1988-1996 to illustrate how the industry boundaries have changed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.