Encyclopedic dictionaries interpret the concept of “alliance” as a union or association of organizations, political parties or states on the basis of stipulated contractual obligations. The Alliance is also a community of individuals united among themselves to achieve any common goals. Consider the essence of this concept and its types.
Varieties
The meaning of the word “alliance” more often implies an alliance between two or more states. But such agreements can also be political, group, popular, international cooperative, interstate , strategic, economic, military, family, personal and others.
The essence of associations
In relations between states, alliances are aimed, first of all, at the mutual support of the parties in the presence of a threat of aggression by other powers. They can also be formed to establish any mutual interests.
The closest synonym for the word alliance is union. It is formed between several countries to join forces in the struggle against one, more powerful state, which threatens their independence. Unions in such cases are divided into offensive or defensive.
Similar meanings are also given to such concepts as a coalition, group, corporation, organization, community, association, association. An alliance is a political, economic or military-political coalition of several states, created to protect common interests, ensure joint security, coordinated training and defense from another state. In such an alliance, common goals are set and joint actions aimed at their achievement are determined. So, for example, an anti-Hitler coalition was created , which during World War II was an association of peoples and states that opposed the countries of the Nazi bloc.
Interstate Alliances
Interstate alliances are formed on the basis of bilateral or multilateral agreements, covenants, and treaties. They can be secret and open, short and long-term, highly organized and simple. Previously, their main focus was victory in the impending war. Moreover, each of the states included in the coalition, first of all pursued its own economic, political and military interests. In modern conditions, an interstate alliance is the creation of a commonwealth whose goal is to achieve an equilibrium in the balance of power necessary to ensure the national security of certain powers. An example of such alliances is NATO. This military-political bloc was created in 1949 and exists as a “transatlantic forum” for holding consultations on any issues between the allied countries and containing any form of aggression that threatens any of its constituent states.
An example of an interstate union can also be the creation in 2005 of the “Alliance of Civilizations”, initiated at the 59th UN General Assembly. The purpose of the association is to intensify international action against extremism. Conflicts can be resolved through the establishment of intercultural, interethnic and interreligious interaction and dialogue. This alliance pays special attention to the reduction of friction between the Islamic and Western worlds. He developed the “Group of Friends” network - an expanding community, which includes states and international organizations that support the goals of this association.
Promising form of integration
A strategic alliance is the conclusion of an agreement on cooperation between two or more independent organizations, firms for the joint achievement of specific commercial goals and for combining mutually complementary and mutually beneficial strategic resources of companies. This is a kind of cooperation between organizations whose purpose is to gain access to new markets, technologies and knowledge.
Strategic alliances today are the most promising forms of company integration. In the XXI century, it is they who will become the most important tool of competition. The emergence of such alliances is one of the fastest ways to solve a global strategy. Their main advantage is a cooperation agreement between firms and organizations, providing for prospects that go beyond the usual trading operations, but do not lead to a merger. As a rule, strategic alliances are based either on long-term relationships of partners, or are limited to certain contracts.
Such unions should be distinguished from joint ventures, which involve the creation of new companies through the contributions of assets or businesses of several individual firms. Such formations conduct their business separately from the corporations-owners, but work in their interests. A strategic alliance is an association of two or more companies that are ready to share remuneration and possible risks in order to achieve specific, often completely different goals. Strategic alliances are somewhat reminiscent of a deal. The vast majority of them throughout the course of their existence present participants with only one requirement - the attraction of the latest resources. Therefore, an important condition for the successful functioning of the alliance is the provision of financial protection: reliable, and most importantly, permanent sources of financial resources. So at one time the automotive world giants Toyota Jidosha c Hino Jidosha, Daihatsu Jidosha and Yamaha Jidosha, Daimler-Benz with Crysler and others united. Their main goal was to reorganize the established shares of the global car market and solve the problems arising from it in reducing sales.
System flexibility
Access to strategic alliances is open to both suppliers and customers. Unions can be created on the basis of intercompany horizontal cooperation between companies in related fields of activity that have complementary technologies and experience. Commercial organizations are often members of several strategic alliances. This makes them sufficiently mobile and free for partners who are more future-oriented, which reduce the ambiguity in their relationship and increase stability in providing the necessary resources and the distribution of services and products.
Alliances are capable of influencing competition. Creating for a certain period of time, they can disintegrate painlessly over time, if the need for their union disappears. By law, they are by far the least restrictive in terms of market penetration.