Answer to Question 1
Corporate culture, national culture, goals, and objectives can all contribute to incompatibility among partners. In many cases, compatibility problems can be anticipated if the partners carefully discuss and analyze the reasons why each is entering into the alliance in the first place. A useful starting point may be a meeting between top managers of the two partners to discuss their mutual interests, goals, and beliefs about strategy. The manner in which the managers are able to work together during such a meeting may be a critical clue to their ability to cooperate in a strategic alliance. Obviously, if the partners cannot agree on such basic issues as how much decision-making power to delegate to the alliance's business unit, what the alliance's strategy should be, how it is to be organized, or how it should be staffed, compromise will probably be difficult to achieve, and the alliance is unlikely to succeed.
Answer to Question 2
Foreign exchange is traded using electronic methods, customer direct, interbank direct, or voice broker. There are different kinds of electronic methods. One is an electronic broking system where trades are matched up for foreign-exchange dealers using electronic systems such as EBS, Reuters, and Bloomberg. Another is an electronic trading system that is executed on a single-bank proprietary system or a multibank dealing system. Customer direct refers to trades between a reporting dealer and either a non-reporting dealer or customer, without a third party being involved. Usually trades are executed by telephone or direct electronic trading. Interbank direct refers to trades between dealer banks via telephone or direct electronic trading. Voice broker is a trade via telephone communication with a foreign-exchange voice broker.