Niek Karsmakers

Strategic Alliances in the Dutch Video Game Industry: an Empirical Study of Transitory Alliances in Turbulent Business Environments Niek Karsmakers

Given that our economy has become increasingly turbulent, it is necessary to know how firms can deal with rapidly changing environments. Especially, in business environments where technology advancements accelerate, competition intensifies, and required investments increase, firms long for something to hold on to. A special type of alliance, transitory alliance, is geared to dealing with environmental turbulence. The aim of this study is to investigate the concept of transitory alliance empirically in the Dutch video game industry, thereby providing a better understanding of alliance practices in turbulent industries. The combination of quantitative and qualitative data showed that on five out of six of the characteristics of transitory alliances the typical alliances established by DVGCs tend to be transitory instead of traditional. Furthermore, results indicated a difference in DVGCs that are active in a B2B environment ? firms that develop adver and serious games ? and in a B2C environment ? firms that develop entertainment games. Also, successful and less successful DVGCs in regard to their alliance practices seem to make use of different alliance management tools.