近年來，隨著科技產品的日新月異和全球化的影響，各式產品的複雜度與全球競爭程度亦逐漸提升，各行各業幾乎不可能不倚靠其他企業而獨自經營。廠商間的競合策略，亦由傳統的二夥伴轉變為多夥伴策略聯盟，以應付日趨激烈的國際競爭。儘管針對競合關係與聯盟網路的研究已吸引不少研究者的關注，但是卻缺乏針對多夥伴策略聯盟這種特殊關係的進一步探討。因此，本研究試著結合兩種廣泛應用於策略聯盟研究的理論，資源基礎觀點與交易成本理論，探討聯盟參與成員數和公司績效之關係，並提出兩個重要的調節變數，聯盟型態與聯盟範疇，以進一步實證聯盟參與成員多寡和公司績效的關係。
本研究以1996年至2005年間成立多夥伴聯盟，並其SIC的前兩碼為35、36或48的公司作為研究樣本。從實證結果中可觀察到，聯盟參與成員數和公司績效成一倒U型關係，說明並非參與成員越多，公司績效就會越好，由於交易成本的影響，過多的參與成員反而使公司績效下降，而針對研究樣本產業，最適的聯盟規模大約為5至7個參與廠商。此外，聯盟型態與聯盟範疇亦會加強此倒U型關係。
此研究結果警示了正面臨是否參與多夥伴策略聯盟決策的經理人，雖然對於中小型企業而言，策略聯盟夥伴越多代表著更多的資源共享機會，但是對於聯盟活動的經營與監督上卻需要耗費更多成本，故經理人應更謹慎衡量多夥伴策略聯盟可能帶來的優點與缺點，方可為公司與股東創造最大的價值。

Nowadays, as a result of the growing complexity of products and the increasing competition in global market, it is difficult for firms to manage all the business individually. Firms are shifting from the traditional two-partner alliances to the multiple-partner alliances to look for the cure for global competition. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the membership of multiple-partner alliances and the focal firms’ performances from resource-based view and transaction cost theory. Besides, alliance type and alliance scope are added to study the moderating effects.
The sample of this study includes 177 multiple-partner alliances formed by firms in the industries of computer manufacturing and communication services during 1996 to 2005. The empirical results find that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between membership of alliance and firm performance. Moreover, the inverted U-shape relationship is moderated by alliance type and alliance scope, it is more salient under the vertical alliances or broad scope alliances.
This finding provides an important insight to managers that forming alliances is a double-edged sword. Although a multi-partner alliance grants participating firms more accesses to various resources and capabilities possessed by partners, it becomes more difficult and costly to manage as the membership enlarges. Therefore, managers who seek to take advantage of alliance benefits need to be cautious about the downsides of the alliance practice so as to help their firms gain most from entering alliances, each of which maintains an optimal size of allying members.

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