Purpose

An alliance portfolio can help latecomer firms to acquire the necessary knowledge and resources to catch up with market leaders. However, how latecomer firms construct an alliance portfolio in terms of the nature of windows of opportunity has not been fully analyzed. This paper aims to explore how latecomer firms can build appropriate coalitions according to the nature of the window of opportunity to achieve technological catch-up in different catch-up phases.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a longitudinal case study from 1984 to 2018 of Sunny Group, now a leading manufacturer of integrated optical components and products, this paper explores the process of technological catch-up of latecomer firms building different types of alliance portfolio in different windows of opportunity.

Findings

This paper finds that there is a sequence when latecomers build an alliance portfolio in the process of catch-up. When the uncertainty of opportunity increases, the governance mechanism of the alliance portfolio will change from contractual to equity-based. Also, latecomer firms build market-dominated and technology-dominated alliance portfolios to overcome their market and technology disadvantages, respectively.

Originality/value

These conclusions not only enrich the theory of latecomer catch-up from the perspective of windows of opportunity but also expand research on alliance portfolio processes from a temporal perspective.

中文翻译：

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机会之窗、联盟组合和后来者企业的追赶：Sunny 1984年至2018年的纵向案例研究

目的

联盟组合可以帮助后来者公司获得必要的知识和资源，以赶上市场领导者。然而，后来者企业如何根据机会窗口的性质构建联盟组合尚未得到充分分析。本文旨在探讨后发企业在不同追赶阶段如何根据机会窗口的性质建立适当的联盟以实现技术追赶。

设计/方法论/途径

本文基于对舜宇集团（现已成为领先的集成光学器件和产品制造商）1984年至2018年的纵向案例研究，探讨了后来者企业在不同机会窗口建立不同类型联盟组合的技术追赶过程。

发现

本文发现，后来者在追赶过程中建立联盟组合存在一个序列。当机会的不确定性增加时，联盟组合的治理机制将从契约型转向股权型。此外，后来者企业建立市场主导和技术主导的联盟组合，分别克服其市场和技术劣势。

原创性/价值

这些结论不仅从机会之窗的角度丰富了后来者追赶的理论，而且从时间的角度扩展了对联盟组合过程的研究。