Comfort Shoes Inc.and InStep Shoes Inc.,two competing shoe brands,entered into a strategic alliance to study and acquire each other competencies.Comfort Shoes entered the strategic alliance to acquire the production system pioneered by InStep Shoes.Similarly,InStep Shoes agreed to the strategic alliance to study the designing process of Comfort Shoes.However,Comfort Shoes was more successful and faster than InStep Shoes in accomplishing its alliance goal.What does this scenario best illustrate?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This scenario best illustrates learning races. Co-opetition can lead to learning races in strategic alliances, a situation in which both partners are motivated to form an alliance for learning, but the rate at which the firms learn may vary. The firm that learns faster and accomplishes its goal more quickly has an incentive to exit the alliance or, at a minimum, to reduce its knowledge sharing.