What determines acquisition as the next strategic Choice: An Alliance-Network approach

We examine the effect of alliance portfolio including the number of equity-based alliance, the number of repeated alliance, and an unbalanced portfolio between exploration and exploitation alliances on the managerial choice with the alliance portfolio. Our dataset includes 165 firms’ contracts during 2000-2004.Our findings show that firms with existing equity-based alliances and high brokerage position are less likely to acquire while the unbalanced portfolio between exploration and exploitation alliances increases the choice of acquisition. In addition, the effect of repeated alliances on subsequent choice of acquisition depends on brokerage position.