Strategic Lock-in in Inter-organizational Relationships: The case of Dataprev

• Autor(a) principal: Tinoco, Joao Paulo Vieira
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Macedo-Soares, T. Diana L. Van Aduard de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Cadernos EBAPE.BR
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/cadernosebape/article/view/5093

Alliances and strategic networks gained prominence in the field of business administration, being viewed as a means for acquiring resources that provide a sustainable competitive advantage. In this context, competition occurs between groups that form a strategic network. However, commitment to the network can also create problems for a company. This happens when the company ceases to do business because the relationship causes restrictions to the change process, maintaining the firm in what is called a lock-in situation. This article describes the case of Dataprev, a state owned company specialized in information technology services, which decides to change its strategy with respect to its partnership with a supplier, but, because this relationship has created a lock-in situation, it cannot implement the new strategy within the necessary time-frame. The research was conducted by way of a documental investigation as well as interviews with company managers from May to June 2007. While making evident the difficulty to implement the new strategy due to this lock-in situation, it provided insights lessons for companies in similar situations.