Examining the relationship between strategic alliances and the performance of small entrepreneurial firms in telecommunications

An alliance is an effective strategy for knowledge-intensive businesses in competition. Yet, little is known about how strategic alliances work within small firms in the telecommunications industry, which plays an essential part in the COVID-19 pandemic infrastructure. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of strategic alliance on firm performance among small entrepreneurial firms (SEFs) in the telecommunications industry. The study uses structural equation modeling to analyze primary data obtained from a sample of 74 small entrepreneurial firms in the telecommunications sector. We find that strategic alliances significantly and positively impact partners’ performance in terms of financial, operational, and organizational effectiveness among small entrepreneurial firms in the telecommunication sector. Drawing on the findings, we recommend small entrepreneurial firms pay particular attention to pre-alliance and post-alliance issues, including partner similarity, alliance experience, partner’ reputation, complementary skills, industry scope, commitment to improving trust and skill, and collaboration to boost performance. In addition, based on the results of this study, we discuss research implications for challenges of telecommunications SEFs in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.