Strategic Alliances - Trick or Treat? - The Case of Scania

Most authors are pro-alliances, and the casual reader may be lulled into a false sense of security concerning the advantages of strategic alliances. The literature on strategic alliances is reviewed concerning the motives for forming alliances and the way in which examples of alliances are used, and misused, in the literature by scholars. The case of Scania, the Swedish heavy truck producer, is then presented as an example of the strategic advantages that can be achieved by not entering into horizontal alliances.