The use of strategic tools for decision making to aid growth has been the focus of historic research, more recently strategic alliances have received attention from researchers and practitioners as an option for strategic growth for SMEs. There has however been few empirical studies into the motivation of managers for strategic alliances, researchers have chosen to focus on the success or failure of the alliances and the type of alliance undertaken.
This study helps to fill the gap by investigating the relationship between managerial & firm demographics and strategic alliance success in high tech SMEs. Strategic management models used by other researchers were used for example the dynamic strategic management model for SMEs was reviewed and has resulted in a specific strategic model for SMEs in the high tech industry being created.
A postal survey to managers of SMEs in the UK generated 444 usable responses to a questionnaire that sought information about the manager, the firm and their alliance experiences. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings and correlation analysis was undertaken to test the hypothesis generated by the two research questions.
Findings from this study support and contribute to the upper echelon theory that manager's demographics contribute to their decision making and influence firm behaviour. Findings support prior work that there are two types of managers in the high tech sector and their homogeneity and heterogeneity are found to be typical of firms in the high tech sector in the UK. Findings also indicate that SMEs do understand the need to align their strategies and that effective planning is important.
This study has provided some insights into the behaviour of successful firms that may be useful for managers of SMEs when considering strategic alliances.