問17
頻出度★★★
企業戦略におけるアライアンスの効果として適切なものはどれか。
平成24年度 春期 ITパスポート試験 問17
ストラテジ系経営戦略マネジメント › 経営戦略手法
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 17
Incorrectア
This describes M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions). By taking the partner company itself into one's own company, one can acquire tangible and intangible management resources — technology, facilities, people, the customer base, brands — all at once, while differences in corporate culture easily cause confusion and friction after the integration; these are the typical advantages and disadvantages of M&A. Because the partner company no longer exists as an independent entity, it does not satisfy the alliance condition of “each maintaining its own independence”, so this choice is wrong.
Incorrectイ
This describes outsourcing. It explains a way of concentrating management resources: non-core operations such as information system operation, call centers, and payroll calculation are entrusted to outside specialist vendors, and the people and money that are freed up are concentrated on the company's own core business (its core competence). It is, after all, a contracting relationship between a client and a supplier, and it differs from an alliance — in which partners cooperate as equals — in both purpose and the nature of the relationship, so this choice is wrong.
- ウ
正解 The correct answer is ウ. An alliance (a strategic partnership) means that several companies form a cooperative relationship while each of them remains an independent company, instead of taking the partner in as a merger or an acquisition does. The items listed in ウ — “technical cooperation”, “outsourcing of production or sales”, and “establishment of a joint venture” — are all typical forms of an alliance. The decisive part is the phrase “strengthen their cooperation while each maintains its own independence”, which is exactly the biggest feature that separates an alliance from other ways of combining companies. In terms of effects, a company can make up for management resources it lacks — technology, production capacity, sales channels, brands — by drawing on its partner, so it can shorten development time, share the amount of investment and the risk, and enter new markets or overseas markets quickly. Moreover, because capital is not merged, the company keeps its independence in decision-making and also has the flexibility to end the partnership once it is no longer needed. Therefore, ウ is the appropriate statement about the effect of an alliance in corporate strategy.
Incorrectエ
This describes a holding company. It refers to a corporate form that holds and controls the shares of the group companies, does no business of its own, and specializes in headquarters functions such as drawing up group strategy and managing operations. It presumes a parent-subsidiary relationship created by shareholding — that is, control through capital — so its mechanism differs from an alliance, in which independent companies join hands as equals; therefore this choice is wrong.
ここがポイント
- Alliance (strategic partnership) = a cooperative relationship formed by several companies that keep their independence, without merging capital. Concrete forms include technical cooperation, joint research and development, production outsourcing (OEM), sales outsourcing, and setting up a joint venture. The effects are mutual complementing of management resources, shorter development time, sharing of investment and risk, and quick entry into new markets; the keyword is “while maintaining one's own independence”.
- Sort out confusing corporate-strategy terms by the kind of relationship involved: M&A = a merger or acquisition that absorbs the partner (its independence is lost); outsourcing = entrusting non-core work to an external vendor (a client-supplier relationship); holding company = control through shareholding, specialized in headquarters functions; alliance = a partnership between equals that each remain independent.
用語