The objective of the present article is to contribute to studies of the management of firms that enter into alliances, focusing on the issue of the latter's strategic implications - opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses - given their relational characteristics. The article focuses on the case of a Brazilian firm in the automotive industry - Forjas Brasileiras (FB) - that, in 1999, decided to establish two strategic alliances with foreign firms. It seeks to answer the following question: is the firm's competitive strategy adequate for its current competitive context, considering its strategic alliances with foreign firms? The data of the study at issue in this article was collected using various methods in accordance with the methodology proposed by Yin (1994) for case studies. To assess strategic fit, the research adopted conceptual tools developed by Macedo-Soares (2002) to carry out analyses from a relational perspective, i.e. considering a firm's relationships and their impact on its management and performance. The results of this study demonstrated the importance of conducting strategic planning from a relational perspective, in the case of firms that have established alliances, illustrating how it can provide new insights for business decision-making that could not be obtained through traditional analyses that do not contemplate the strategic implications of alliances.
Strategic alliances; global alliances and auto-parts
