Learning objectives
The students will acquire basic knowledge about main theories
concerning cooperative strategies between firms and single agents and
will be able to assess the feasibility of individual or collective course of
action.
The course will focus on the analysis of the expected benefits and costs
of the development of cooperative practices between firms. To this
subject the first and second part of the course is dedicated. The third part will
be dedicated to identify the main costs associated with cooperative solutions and collective action.
The fourth and fifth part will analyse Endogenous and exogenous factors and strategies facilitating cooperation between individuals and firms.
The course will focus on the analysis of the expected benefits and costs of the development of cooperative practices between firms. To this subject the first part of the course is dedicated. The second part will discuss the procedures partners selection and the role of governance mechanisms. The analysis will be extended to contractual safeguards and enforcement mechanisms. Finally, emphasis will be given to contextual, cultural and institutional factors impacting the decisions to start and develop cooperative practices.
At the end of the course students will have acquired:
a) the knowledge needed to identify the benefits but also the risks associated to the start of cooperative practices between firms;
b) the ability to apply the knowledge gained in operational contexts such as joint ventures, strategic alliance (in domestic as well as international contexts);
c) the critical capacity (independent judgment) to compare the different alternatives and make decisions rationally justified;
d) the basic skills in the assessment of the opportunities and the risks associated with the start of cooperative practices between firms;
e) the ability to learn through critical analysis of the solutions adopted
Prerequisites
Basic economics and statistics
Course unit content
• Definitions of strategic alliance
• Forms of inter-firm cooperation
• Empirical evidence
• Purposes & motives of strategic alliances
• Costs of inter-firm cooperation (I): Regulatory Costs
• Costs of inter-firm cooperation (II): Coordination Costs
• Risks
• Partner Selection
• Procedures & Norms
• Social Capital
• Trust
• Network Contractual Safeguards & Sanctions
• Structure & governance mechanism
• Failure & Success of strategic alliances
• Managerial Tasks
Full programme
• Definition of Strategic Alliance
• Types of interactions between firms
• Organizational Forms
• Motives/objectives of interfirm co-operation
• Empirical evidence of interfirm co-operation
• Economies of scale, scope and specialization
• Risk reduction)
• Collusion)
• Transaction costs decrease
• Internalization of technological externalities)
• Tacit knowledge and resource complementarity
• Market incompleteness
• Regulation cost
• Coordination costs
• The shadow of the future
• Group heterogeneity
• Fairness
• Trust
• Social capital
• Group identity
• Reputation
• Sanctioning systems
• Gradualism
• Centralization of decision-making
• Institutions and Governments
Bibliography
Power Point Slides; Recorded Lessons; Cases tudies materials; A specific Reading list for non
attending student is provided (see Alessandro Arrighetti (2015),
“Cooperation and Strategic Alliances Between Firms: a Reading List”) .
Teaching methods
Lectures (mainly online), classroom experiments and simulations, students work groups;
Acquisition of the ability to apply knowledge: case studies, exercises and classroom discussion;
Acquisition of judgment: comparison between alternatives and identifying the limits of the proposed solutions;
Acquisition of learning skills: general discussion of the results of experiments classroom students' presentations
Acquisition of technical language: explicit definition in the classroom of the meaning of the terms commonly used in the management of cooperative relationships between firms.
Assessment methods and criteria
Learning assessment, although equivalent in terms of content, is specific for:
Attending Student (student who actively participates in lessons; continuously reviews recorded lessons and published teaching material; elaborates the required homeworks in the required time; contributes to and presents a groupwork; These activities replace a formal exam; The ability to apply knowledge will be assessed in homeworks and the classroom presentation and the discussion that follows will be evaluated up to 10 points; The ability to communicate with the appropriate technical language will be assessed in homeworks and during the classroom presentation and the discussion that follows. The ability to communicate will be evaluated up to a maximum of 5 points; The autonomy of judgment and the ability to learn will be assessed in homeworks and during the classroom presentation and the discussion that follows. The autonomy of judgment and the ability to learn will be assessed up to a maximum of 15 points. )
Non-attending student (student who revises recorded lectures and published teaching material; studies the essays contained in the 'Reading list' published in Elly; the non-attending student takes the exam in the ordinary sessions.per divided into two parts. The exam will be oral or written and based on four open questions Each response will be evaluated up to 8 points;
Laude will be given to those particularly deserving students who, in
addition to having complied to the requirements necessary to obtain a
full assessment, in accrying out the exam have demostrated and overall
appreciable systematic knowledge of the subject, an exellent ability to
apply the knowledge to the specifica problem in question, a significant
autonomy of judgement, as well a special care in the formal drafting of
the exam.
During the examination, the use of calculator is allowed; no other
electronic device and any material is allowed.
The results will be communicated via Esse3 platform.
Other information
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