M&A vs Strategic Alliances -: from perspective of system thinking

Alliance and M&A are two important inter-firm collaborative forms, however empirical study show that most of the collaboration failed One reason is that managers haven't chosen the right collaborative formation. This article explore the question when to ally, and when to acquire? We assert three factors affect the right choice between alliance and acquire, they are external environment, internal resource and the objective of cooperation. The company make the decision under certain environment which is also be affected by the decision.