In a brief essay, discuss the problems associated with forming a strategic alliance with a competitor

What will be an ideal response?

It is often hard to cooperate with a firm in one market while doing battle with that same firm in a second market. Under such circumstances, each partner may be unwilling to reveal all its expertise to the other partner for fear that the partner will use that knowledge against the firm in another market. Most experts believe a firm should ally itself with a partner whose products or services are complementary to but not directly competitive with its own. Limited access to information is another drawback of many strategic alliances. For a collaboration to work effectively, one partner (or both) may have to provide the other with information it would prefer to keep secret.