Question

why would a firm use an alliance, joint venture, and merger/ acquisition?

and how will the implementation effort differ in each ?

Answer 1

When the circumstances of doing the business are complicated that the firm itself is not able to handle all of them it will use an alliance or a joint venture or a merger/acquisition. It differes on the requirement of the firm on which method it will choose. If it needs help in one field or the other it will go for alliance and if it is not capable of doing the business alone it will go for joint venture. If it wants to takeover and hand over the business then it will opt for merger/aquisition. The implementation of each of these will differ depending on the urgency and importance of the situation and the condition in which the firm is operating.