Research Paper on:
Kvant and IBM Strategic Alliance

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
guarantee of success. If we consider one strategic alliance we may demonstrate the way reasons that they take place and also the reasons that they may succeed or fail. Here  we will look at a strategic alliance that took place between IBM and Kvant. This alliance was formed in the wake of the fall of communism in Russia. Following  nine months of negotiation the strategic alliance was formed in 1993 (Bruton and Samiee, 1993). This was an interesting alliance as Kvant was a well established organisation in Russia that  had specialised in Military technology but since the fall in communism had been suffering due to the changed environment and lower military spending. IBM were hardly known in Russia.  The agreement here was that IBM would ship to components to Kvant, who would then assemble the computers (Bruton and Samiee, 1993). This international strategic alliance started out with the  assembling of computers that were based on the 80286 chip, and by 1996, the time when the alliance finished they were assembling some of the most advanced computers of the  time; laptop technology based on the 80486 chip technology (Bruton and Samiee, 1993). IBM invested heavily in the project, totalling in the region of $2 million, this was to supply  equipment as well as in staff training, Kvant supplied the labour with seventy staff dedicated to the alliance, as well as the required presence in the Russian market (Bruton and  Samiee, 1993). The result was an ability for Kvant to be able to manufacture a large number of computers, up to 4,000 a month, dependant on orders (Bruton and Samiee,  1993). When we look at the reasons for the alliance being made we need to look at this from both the perspective of IBM and that of Kvant. IBM wanted