A comparative analysis of alliances in the enterprise storage market
Author(s)
Zhu, Jennifer Xiaoying, 1963-
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Other Contributors
Management of Technology Program.
Advisor
Edward B. Roberts.
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Alliances have been increasingly used in many industries as a way of obtaining competitive advantage. The enterprise storage marketplace is one in which alliances have been frequently used by many big players. In this paper, a comprehensive list of storage related alliances was compiled. The list covers a five-year period from 1995 to 1999, and the six leading domestic enterprise storage manufacturers including EMC, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, Dell, and Compaq. Six forces that have led to the alliances in the enterprise storage space were identified. The alliances were broken down into three levels . based on the strategic importance of an alliance and the amount of effort involved. With the data obtained from press and company news releases, we were able to categorize the alliances with regard to the six forces. However we were not able to determine the level of each alliance due to the Jack of inside information regarding the true goals and processes of the alliances. Nevertheless we believe the evaluation methodology is worth presenting and the work can be completed once the information becomes available. A comparative analysis of the storage-related alliances for each of the six leading storage vendors was conducted. The analysis touched upon the firms' product positioning, competitive advantage/disadvantage, and the use of alliances. The thesis also discusses if and how the alliances were linked to business strategy.
Description
Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2000. Also available online at the MIT Theses Online homepage <http://thesis.mit.edu>. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63).
Date issued
2000URI
http://theses.mit.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Describe/0018.mit.theses%2f2000-112http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/9233
Department
Management of Technology Program.; Sloan School of ManagementPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Management of Technology Program.