Is/are the strategically relevant factors outside a company's industry boundaries—economic conditions, political factors, sociocultural forces, technological factors, environmental factors, and legal/regulatory conditions

Moon flower cosmetics company executives are aware that their asian customer base is interested in advanced skin care treatments beyond moon flower's traditional herbal and organic compounds. moon flower and a large american chemical company are in discussions to create a 50-50 partnership in a new firm, which would create skin care treatments based on innovative chemical formulations that would be marketed both in asia and in the united states. beyond being a cross-border alliance, this partnership can be called a(n)a. nonequity strategic alliance. b. joint venture. c. horizontal complementary alliance. d. equity strategic alliance.