Abstract
This is the first of a two-case series (309-078-1 and 309-079-1). How to leverage strategic alliances to build up corporate competitive advantages is one of the critical issues in strategic management. From a small company with 14 employees in 1988 to a global giant in the telecommunications manufacturing industry in 2008, Huawei faced a lot of challenges on the road to be one of the top 5 in the world. In this case series, we are going to discuss how: (1) Huawei Technologies coped with distrust from Chinese telecommunications operators; (2) the shortage of financial resources to support its research and development; (3) inferior technology and market situations; (4) severe competition from new entrants, as well as incumbent leaders in the data communication market; and (5) future capabilities building. We have designed two cases in this package, which aim to expose the students to various scenarios and make them think about the contribution of strategic alliances to corporate development. Students can generate a lot of discussion on possible solutions to each critical point in 1993, 2003 and 2005 respectively. These scenarios provide them with contexts to evaluate whether the alliances conducted by Huawei Technologies are better or not. In the end, the instructor(s) may generalise on what the functions of strategic alliances will be, and in what circumstances a firm may utilise strategic alliances to build up corporate competitive advantages. This case series targets MBA and / or EMBA students.