metrics and goals. It ensures an alliance stays on the road to achieving overarching company goals and uncovers potential obstacles before they can thwart an alliance completely. Risks Using and operating strategic alliances does not only bring chances and benefits. There are also risks and limitations that have to be taken in consideration. Failures are often attributed to unrealistic expectations, lack of commitment, cultural differences, strategic goal divergence and insufficient trust. Some of the risks are listed below: Partner experiences financial difficulties Hidden costs Inefficient management Activities outside scope of original agreement Information leakage Loss of competencies Loss of operational control Partner lock-in Partner product or service failure Partner unable or unwilling to supply key resources Partner's quality performance Partner takes advantage of its position The "dark side" of strategic alliances has received increasing attention across different management fields, such as business ethics, marketing, and supply chain management. Common mistakes Many companies struggle to operate their alliances in the way they imagined it and many of these partnerships fail to reach their defined goals. Some common mistakes are: Low commitment Inappropriate company culture Poor operating/planning integration Strategic weakness Rigidity/poor adaptability Too-strong focus on internal alliance issues instead on customer value Not enough preparation time Hidden agenda leading to distrust, lack of value created negotiation Lack of understanding of what is involved Unrealistic expectations Wrong expectation of public perception leading to damage of reputation Underestimated complexity Reactive behavior instead of prepared, proactive actions Overdependence Legal problems Importance of strategic alliances Strategic alliances have developed from an option to a necessity in many markets and industries. Variation in markets and requirements leads to an increasing use of strategic alliances. It is of essential importance to integrate strategic alliance management into the overall corporate strategy to advance products and services, enter new markets and leverage technology and Research & Development. Nowadays, global companies have many alliances on inland markets as well as global partnerships, sometimes even with competitors, which leads to challenges such as keeping up competition or protecting own interests while managing the alliance. So nowadays managing an alliance focuses on leveraging the differences to create value for the customer, dealing with internal challenges, managing daily competition of the alliance with competitors and Risk Management which has become a company-wide concern. The percentage of revenues for the top 1000 U.S. public corporations generated by strategic alliances increased from 3-6% in the 1990s