The urge to merge. When corporations face competitive threats, they often turn to partnering strategies such as joint ventures, mergers, or acquisitions to improve their position. In the 1998 Handbook of Business Strategy, a book published by the Journal of Business Strategy, SMG Professor of Management Policy John Mahon and coauthor Richard McGowan explain why companies considering a partnership should evaluate their strategies with an eye to many kinds of scrutiny. Because of that, there are more opportunities for them to be derailed.
Timing also refers to the desired length of the partnership.
Cultural as well as geographic distance can create obstacles in a merger, but may not matter as much in a simpler kind of partnership. In the future, he adds, governments are likely to become even more intrusive. A successful strategy will identify the concerned constituencies other than the firms involved, and communicate to them the deal's benefits. Building the Concorde allied France and England in a project beyond the capability of either country alone and one that benefited the economies of both nations. Over the past 25 years it has become more of a taboo product.