Content area
Full Text
Introduction
In the current environment of intense competition and continual search for ways to differentiate their offers from those of their competitors, firms need to find innovative ways to improve their competitive advantage; cooperating with each other, whether they are competitors, is a common way for firms to overcome some of the barriers to their development and growth. This strategy has become more popular in recent years, fostered by technological developments and the emergence of digital markets. Globalization and competition have caused an important shift in firms' organizational structures, which have become more fluid and disaggregated, while the network dimension is increasingly important, and several strategic alliance partners often supplement the efforts of a firm in various aspects (Thomaz and Swaminathan, 2015). In addition, marketing outcomes are increasingly determined by the synergic action of networks of firms (Achrol and Kotler, 1999).
In this context, marketing alliances are growing in importance and number. Co-marketing refers to the process by which two or more partners jointly develop initiatives at analytical, strategic or operative levels to fulfil marketing objectives through customer satisfaction (Cherubini, 1999). However, to univocally define co-marketing alliances is not that easy, as the term includes and overlaps with several other more or less similar phenomena, making it difficult to identify the associated concepts and their proper boundaries. As it refers to marketing activities at all levels, the term co-marketing may include several different typologies of alliance, such as brand alliances, advertising alliances, co-promotion, co-development of new products, cause-brand alliances and online retail alliances.
Marketing alliances have important benefits for involved firms, to the point that they can be considered key components of marketing strategies (Li et al. , 2010). These initiatives can increase the value of firms in several key ways, such as by giving a firm or its partners access to a market or channel; providing a firm with access to entire products, product features, brands or services; or supplying a firm with access to new knowledge and skills (Swaminathan and Moorman, 2009).
Several methods have driven the analytical approach to this topic so far; however, despite some attempts to classify them, these methods have not previously been fully explored and systematized.
With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to outline...