American Snacks Inc., a conglomerate, has a strategic alliance with Très Bien Limité, a French snack-maker. However, Très Bien managers are concerned that the different business units of American Snacks will set up partnerships with direct competitors of Très Bien in France. What can owners and managers at American Snacks do to respond to Très Bien's concern?

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Conglomerates such as ABB, GE, Philips, or Siemens are engaged in hundreds of alliances simultaneously. In fact, if alliances are not managed from a portfolio perspective at the corporate level, serious negative repercussions can emerge. Groupe Danone, a large French food conglomerate, lost its leading position in the highly lucrative and fast-growing Chinese market because its local alliance partner, Hangzhou Wahaha Group, terminated the long-standing alliance. Wahaha accused different Danone business units of subsequently setting up partnerships with other Chinese firms that were a direct competitive threat to Wahaha. This example makes it clear that although alliances are important pathways by which to pursue business-level strategy, they are best managed at the corporate level.