Motives for Strategic Alliances in Cultural and Creative Industries

Cultural and creative industries are gaining importance in Western economies. In these industries, as in several other business sectors, micro‐firms, i.e., firms that employ fewer than ten employees, are the predominant firm type. As these industries have become an integral part of most economies, the literature has started to explore the strategic behavior of cultural and creative micro‐firms. Although micro‐firms are characterized by certain specificities that can affect how likely they are to engage in external relationships, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning collaboration through strategic alliances in this specific context. Seeking to advance the understanding of partnerships between micro‐firms in cultural and creative industries, the purpose of this article is to reveal the specific motives for engaging in strategic alliances in this context. In doing so, we focus on six case studies of strategic alliances between micro‐firms in cultural and creative industries in France. Our results show that strategic alliances involving creative micro‐firms seek the reduction of overspecialization, target a high degree of quality of life and pleasure at work, and are envisaged only if there is trust and mutual support among the partners. Moreover, opportunism and necessity motivations guide the creative micro‐firms' decision to enter strategic alliances.

[1]  A. Alonso,et al.  Collaboration in the context of micro businesses , 2014 .

[2]  Ming-Huei Chen,et al.  Entrepreneurial Orientation, Social Networks, and Creative Performance: Middle Managers as Corporate Entrepreneurs , 2015 .

[3]  S. Shane.  A General Theory of Entrepreneurship , 2003 .

[4]  Keith D. Brouthers,et al.  Key Factors for Successful Export Performance for Small Firms , 2009 .

[5]  A. Hillman,et al.  Resource Dependence Theory: A Review , 2009 .

[6]  Margaret Volante.  Qualitative research. , 2008, Nurse researcher.

[7]  J. Hennart,et al.  A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures , 1988 .

[8]  D. R. Eikhof,et al.  Lifestyle Meets Market: Bohemian Entrepreneurs in Creative Industries , 2006 .

[9]  William F. Samuelson.  Bidding for contracts , 1986 .

[10]  R. Rugimbana,et al.  Micro enterprise owner perspectives on performance: Insights from selected municipalities in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa , 2010 .

[11]  J. Wincent,et al.  Small firms in multipartner R&D alliances: Gaining benefits by acquiescing , 2012 .

[12]  Heiko Haase,et al.  Failure factors in small and medium-sized enterprises: qualitative study from an attributional perspective , 2010 .

[13]  A. Parry.  Handbook of Qualitative Research , 2002 .

[14]  A. Dempster.  Managing Uncertainty in Creative Industries: Lessons from Jerry Springer the Opera , 2006 .

[15]  J. M. Whipple,et al.  Strategic Alliance Success Factors , 2000 .

[16]  Richard E. Caves,et al.  Book Review , 2001 .

[17]  Carlos Martin-Rios,et al.  The Early Bird Gets the Worm, But the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: Non‐Technological Innovation in Creative Industries , 2016 .

[18]  Maryann Feldman,et al.  Small-Firm Strategic Research Partnerships: The Case of Biotechnology , 2003, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[19]  I. Turok.  Cities, Clusters and Creative Industries: The Case of Film and Television in Scotland , 2003 .

[20]  Scott Gallagher,et al.  Explaining Alliance Partner Selection: Fit, Trust and Strategic Expediency , 2007 .

[21]  J. Howkins.  The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas , 2013 .

[22]  E. D. Konrad.  Cultural Entrepreneurship: The Impact of Social Networking on Success , 2013 .

[23]  Marjolein C. J. Caniëls,et al.  Organizing Creativity: Creativity and Innovation Under Constraints , 2015 .

[24]  V. Mangematin,et al.  Orchestrating innovation with user communities in the creative industries , 2014 .

[25]  Patrice Muller,et al.  A partial and fragile recovery - Annual Report on European SMEs 2013/2014 , 2014 .

[26]  N. Horowitz.  Introduction [Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market] , 2011 .

[27]  T. Das,et al.  Entrepreneurial firms in search of established partners: review and recommendations , 2006 .

[28]  R. LeBrasseur,et al.  Growth Intentions of Owner-Managers of Young Microfirms , 2006 .

[29]  R. Sternberg,et al.  The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship in Germany , 2007 .

[30]  Economic downturn: a threat for creative city policy or blessing in disguise? , 2011 .

[31]  Jeremy Dawson,et al.  HRM as a predictor of innovation , 2006 .

[32]  Entrepreneurial decision making: A paradigm rather than a set of questions: Introduction to special section based on Lally-Darden-Humboldt Young Entrepreneurship Scholars' Retreat 2006 , 2010 .

[33]  D. Elmuti,et al.  An overview of strategic alliances , 2001 .

[34]  Joseph Galaskiewicz,et al.  Structural embeddedness and the liability of newness among nonprofit organizations , 2004 .

[35]  Gregory E. Osland,et al.  Learning through International Strategic Alliances: Processes and Factors that Enhance Marketing Strategy Effectiveness , 1995 .

[36]  Mary A. Littrell,et al.  Craft Retailers’ Criteria for Success and Associated Business Strategies , 2002 .

[37]  Dorothy P. Moore,et al.  Women's Organizational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-Reported Motivations and Correlates with Success , 1997 .

[38]  E. Sadler‐Smith.  Cognitive Style and the Management of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises , 2004 .

[39]  Ethan Mollick,et al.  Wisdom or Madness? Comparing Crowds with Expert Evaluation in Funding the Arts , 2015, Manag. Sci..

[40]  P. Tomlinson,et al.  The role of cooperation in a creative industry: the case of UK studio pottery , 2009 .

[41]  A. M. Torres.  Marketing networks as a form of strategic alliance among craft enterprises , 2002 .

[42]  Amalya L. Oliver.  Strategic Alliances and the Learning Life-Cycle of Biotechnology Firms , 2001 .

[43]  Ming-Huei Chen,et al.  Creative entrepreneurs' guanxi networks and success: Information and resource , 2015 .

[44]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Resource-based View of Strategic Alliance Formation: Strategic and Social Effects in Entrepreneurial Firms , 1996 .

[45]  Qingpu Zhang,et al.  Development and Validation of Team Creativity Measures: A Complex Systems Perspective , 2014 .

[46]  Shaker A. Zahra,et al.  Strategic alliances and product development in high technology new firms: The moderating effect of technological capabilities , 2012 .

[47]  A. Cameron,et al.  External Relationships and the Small Business: A Review of Small Business Alliance and Network Research** , 2007 .

[48]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges , 2007 .

[49]  A. Scott.  CULTURAL-PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES AND URBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: PROSPECTS FOR GROWTH AND MARKET CONTESTATION IN GLOBAL CONTEXT , 2005 .

[50]  Annabelle Jaouen,et al.  A new typology of micro-firm owner-managers , 2015 .

[51]  A. Scott.  The Cultural Economy of Cities: Essays on the Geography of Image-Producing Industries , 2000 .

[52]  R. Gulati.  Alliances and networks , 1998 .

[53]  D. Mietzner,et al.  A Competence Portfolio for Professionals in the Creative Industries , 2013 .

[54]  W. Mitchell,et al.  The Market Share Impact of Interpartner Learning in Alliances: Evidence from the Global Auto Industry , 2002 .

[55]  R. Gulati,et al.  The Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances , 2012 .

[56]  Michael D. Mattei,et al.  Simplified Data Analytics for the Accurate Evaluation of a New Venture's Market Potential , 2006 .

[57]  P. Poutziouris.  The strategic orientation of owner‐managers of small ventures , 2003 .

[58]  Nicolaj Siggelkow.  Persuasion with case studies , 2007 .

[59]  Stefanos Mouzas,et al.  Competition and cooperation in vertical marketing systems , 1997 .

[60]  K. Prashant,et al.  Managing Strategic Alliances: What Do We Know Now, and Where Do We Go From Here? , 2009 .

[61]  Dominic Power,et al.  “Cultural Industries” in Sweden: An Assessment of their Place in the Swedish Economy* , 2002 .

[62]  K. Seers.  Qualitative data analysis , 2011, Evidence Based Nursing.

[63]  C. Williams,et al.  Beyond necessity versus opportunity entrepreneurship: some lessons from English deprived urban neighbourhoods , 2014 .

[64]  J. Cegarra-Navarro,et al.  An empirical investigation of organizational learning through strategic alliances between SMEs , 2005 .

[65]  Sue Birley,et al.  A taxonomy of business start-up reasons and their impact on firm growth and size , 1994 .

[66]  S. Shane.  A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-Opportunity Nexus , 2003 .

[67]  Ben Crewe,et al.  Pleasure at Work? Gender, Consumption and Work‐based Identities in the Creative Industries , 2004 .

[68]  S. Shane,et al.  An exploratory examination of the reasons leading to new firm formation across country and gender , 1991 .

[69]  Yves Jauneau.  Le poids économique direct de la culture , 2013 .

[70]  Andrew C. Inkpen.  Learning, knowledge acquisition, and strategic alliances , 1998 .

[71]  P. Kale.  Managing strategic alliances: what do we know now, and where do we go from here? , 2010 .

[72]  W. H. Hoffmann,et al.  Success Factors of Strategic Alliances in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises—An Empirical Survey , 2001 .

[73]  Bernice Kotey,et al.  Changing HRM practices with firm growth , 2004 .

[74]  A. McAuley.  Entrepreneurial Instant Exporters in the Scottish Arts and Crafts Sector , 1999 .

[75]  Andy C. Pratt,et al.  Mapping the cultural industries: regionalization; the example of south-east England , 2004 .

[76]  S. Kraus,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation in vertical alliances: joint product innovation and learning from allies , 2016 .

[77]  Jeroen P.J. de Jong,et al.  Absorptive capacity and the reach of collaboration in high technology small firms , 2010 .

[78]  Geert Duysters,et al.  Ties that tear apart: The social embeddedness of strategic alliance termination , 2013 .

[79]  A. Jaouen,et al.  Patterns and coordination of collective action in small and very small business: the case of a tourist village in the Pyrenees , 2005 .

[80]  Hervé Dumez.  Qu'est-ce que la recherche qualitative ? Problèmes épistémologiques, méthodologiques et de théorisation , 2013 .

[81]  Andy C. Pratt,et al.  The Cultural Industries Production System: A Case Study of Employment Change in Britain, 1984–91 , 1997 .

[82]  Anita Van Gils,et al.  Knowledge Acquisition and Learning in Dutch and Belgian SMEs:: The Role of Strategic Alliances , 2004 .

[83]  Elena Mamouni Limnios,et al.  Co-operatives as a strategic network of small firms: Case studies from Australian and French co-operatives , 2013 .

[84]  Robert C. Kloosterman,et al.  "RECENT EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN THE CULTURAL INDUSTRIES IN AMSTERDAM, ROTTERDAM, THE HAGUE AND UTRECHT: A FIRST EXPLORATION" , 2004 .