Governance Mode Choices: a Comprehensive Review of Alliances and M&As and Future Research Directions

Purpose Acquisitions and strategic alliances are alternative governance choices for managers. Despite a vast body of literature on the topic that has used different theoretical lenses, we lack a comprehensive synthesis of literature. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to synthesize the extant literature on choosing between acquisitions and alliances, develop a synthesizing conceptual framework from the analysis of empirical findings, and offer important future research avenues. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a comprehensive review of the acquisition versus alliance literature to compare the empirical findings systematically. The insights drawn from the selected articles were then integrated into a unifying framework. Findings The review demonstrated while there is considerable body of research examine the choice between acquisitions and alliances, there is paucity of research examining the performance implications those. Originality/value This literature review presents an integrative framework that organizes empirical studies on alliance versus acquisition decisions and highlights promising avenues for future research.