Seminario 'Environmental Jolts and Strategic Alliance Activity in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist activity'

12.30 horas

Shanti Gopalakrishnan
Professor of Management at New Jersey Institute of Technlogy (EEUU).

Abstract: This study extends the research on environmental jolts by incorporating the implications of geographical proximity and its impact on the use of strategic alliances. We argue that the implications of environmental jolts are subjectively perceived by organizations and that geographical proximity to the jolt increases the perception of risks and leads to heightened organizational activity to mitigate those risks. Thus, contrary to the conventional wisdom, we predict that firms closer to the jolt are more likely to exhibit a stronger response than firms that are farther away. Using data on global alliance activity in the oil industry prior to and subsequent to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we find strong support for our arguments. We find that in the aftermath of the attacks, there was a general decrease in alliance activity. However, this decrease was significantly smaller for U.S. based firms relative to non-U.S. firms. The compensating efforts were more significant for U.S. firms with higher slack resources, and this in turn led to a higher frequency of inter-U.S. alliances. Our study makes a contribution by illustrating that a heightened perception of risk increases organizational capacity to withstand threats.