Which statement best distinguishes a Joint Venture from a Strategic Alliance?

• A. A joint venture creates a new legal entity; a strategic alliance does not. (Correct)
• B. A strategic alliance creates a new entity; a joint venture does not
• C. Both always involve full merger of companies
• D. Joint ventures do not involve any shared resources

Answer: (A)

The key idea is the legal structure behind the collaboration. A joint venture forms a new legal entity owned by the participating organisations, with its own governance, assets, and liabilities. This separates the venture's risks and rewards from the parents and requires shared investment and defined control within the new entity. A strategic alliance, on the other hand, keeps each party as a separate legal entity and relies on contracts or agreements to cooperate—there’s no created separate company.

So the statement is best because it accurately captures this fundamental difference: creating a new entity is characteristic of a joint venture, not of a strategic alliance. The alliance can involve sharing resources and working together, but it doesn’t produce a separate legal entity.