1.Background and Significance of the Essay
Enterprises strategic alliance is a new competition strategy in recent years. In the new century， with science and technology is developed so quickly and the world economy is inclined to integrative， the enterprise’s traditional internal resources advantage， such as cheap labor force cost and resources cost， or the quantity have guarantee， or deliver goods on time， is difficult to acquire competition victory. And with the market demand is changed more and more quickly， the product life span is also become shorter and shorter. And with technology innovation is appeared so frequently， an enterprise is difficult to win the competition only with his own products or technology. Therefore regardless enterprise’s size， All have difficulty to realize his ambition with his own force. In order to survive and develop， some enterprises， especially MNC in the developed country， set up a lot of successful strategic alliance from the1980s. The fact prove that cooperation and competition does not is bound to conflict， they are also mutually influence and mutually stimulation. The competition promote the cooperation， and the cooperation also promote the fury competition. Strategic alliance is a new co-competition group. Strategic alliance can create and share a larger market. Strategic alliance is a new management strategy. Enterprises alliance did not weaken competition， but make competition more vehemence. At the group competing circumstance， if an enterprise does not cooperate with other enterprise， it can hardly exist. So since 1980s， Enterprises strategic alliance is prospering.
Enterprises strategic alliance has great practical significance to Chinese enterprises. Chinese enterprises have just changed from government adjunct to market competitor， but our enterprises are still accustomed to seeing the rival as ‘enemy’ or as opponent， still are accustomed to contesting round a piece of cake， therefore our enterprises whole competition force is not high. With Chinese entered WTO， how our enterprises deal with MNC and transnational alliance under WTO rules， and how to protect or expand the domestic and international market？ Our enterprises must expand the visual field and change the traditional competition method， and also manage to set up national strategic alliance and transnational strategic alliance.
Enterprises strategic alliance theory is one of current hot economics problem， is a front task that belong to enterprise management strategy theory. But since Adam Smith， western economists have concerned more on the market competition， there were so many works and discusses on competition. And there was a little of discusses and writings concerning enterprise unite or cooperation， even involved， economists also see it as a kind of market monopoly， think it may hinder the market"s free competition， and keep critical attitude to it. Along with more and more strategic alliance and more and more important of alliance function in real life， alliance theory distinctly lag practice， so alliance practice is lack of theory guidance and sustain. I think alliance theory is still immature theory， and its system and frame is not perfect. There is a lot of problem requiring further studying. There are three reason， firstly， strategic alliance basic concept did not get the generally accepted definition， this is usually meet circumstance about found a theory； secondly， alliance theory has no representative or core standpoint， all kind of theories pile up one after another； lastly， the theory is not systematism. Existing alliance theories lay emphasis on phenomenon of strategy， they don’t study alliance evolvement and its essence， and they do not discover the alliance economic effect， and they do not have system analysis. My essay attempts to construct strategic alliance system， and bring up my own viewpoint to some questions.
2. Structure Frame and Main Contents of the Essay
The research train of thought of the essay： according to the logic of definition – quality – function， research on enterprises strategic alliance conception – characteristics – development – operation – function – experience – Chinese enterprises strategic alliance practices. The full essay divide seven chapters， main contents as follows：
Chapter one is preamble. It introduces historical background of international and local strategic alliances， and then analyzes the theoretical and practical significance of the research.
Chapter two I study general character of strategic alliance， including strategic alliance definition， characteristic， function and category. In this chapter， I make a difference between strategic alliance， M&A， cartel， competition， and virtual enterprise. Strategic alliance is mighty enterprises long – term cooperation for the sake of strategic intention. Strategic alliance has strategic， equal， blurry， flexible characteristic. Strategic alliance has a lot of advantages， such as strengthen competence force， stepping over the trade barrier， doing technical innovation effectively， realizing enterprise scale economy without engendering ‘large enterprises sickness’. But strategic alliance also has some risks， as technique secret divulging， control authority influencing， each side opportunistic behavior etc. We must pay attention to that. There are various categories and organization forms of strategic alliance， an enterprises can choose suitable alliance forms by its own strategic intention and its real circumstance.