Strategic alliance of small firms in knowledge industries: A management consulting perspective

To propose a framework with which to study the efficacy of strategic alliances of small firms in knowledge industries, with an emphasis on research design to examine the issues surrounding the phenomena.

A framework is developed that consists of four constructs, namely conditions, roles and contributions, learning, and efficacy. Details of the constructs are explained.

Management consulting industry proves to be a fertile research ground to study strategic alliances with regard to firm size. Through an illustration, it is shown that the proposed framework can be put into practice to investigate relevant research questions.

The framework has limited generalizability to situations where the clients of the knowledge‐intensive service are not clearly defined up front.

Knowledge industries will benefit from developing taxonomy of expertise. Client firms may benefit from encouraging small firm to form strategic alliances.

The contribution is threefold; identification of the interplay of firm size and the practice of alliance formation in knowledge industries as a viable research topic; a framework with which to examine the efficacy of strategic alliances of small firms in knowledge industries; and proposing to expand the knowledge management research beyond intra‐firm learning.