Trust - a Source of Success in Strategic Alliances?

I empirically test the role of trust in strategic alliances by using survey data from 67 German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Empirical findings indicate that high trust levels are a good predictor of alliance success. This result is encouraging, as it suggests that well-performing relationships can be differentiated from low performers on the basis of mutual trust. Furthermore, the study shows that the level of safeguards used in an alliance is decreasing in the level of trust and increasing in the gain from opportunistic behavior