How Strategic Alliances Affect Product Development

Mergers and acquisitions obviously can be very expensive, time-consuming, and complicated affairs. A strategic relationship or alliance in which two companies—frequently supplying very different ingredients—work together to develop a new ingredient or prototype can avoid these potential problems, while providing advantages for both parties.

A strategic alliance between companies may also prove to be an effective way to penetrate into a particular market or meet a growing trend. For example, in th…