The Benefits of an International Joint Venture and the Risk of Naturalization

There are several reasons as to why a business may want to enter a joint venture overseas. Things like lower manufacturing costs, favorable monetary conversion rates, and lower taxes can all make international joint ventures beneficial. However, even though there are many advantages to entering an international joint venture, there are a considerable risks.

International joint ventures allow businesses to reduce their risk while extending their market reach to an entirely new area. Having access to a whole new customer base is enticing for businesses Continue reading

How Joint Ventures Can be Beneficial for Entrepreneurs

While joint ventures (JVs) can be a good strategic move for all businesses, they are particularly beneficial for entrepreneurs. A business may enter a joint venture if they are entering a new market place or geographical region. A joint venture will help take it to a new plateau.

The relationship between joint ventures and entrepreneurs is much different. An entrepreneur typically starts out with an innovative idea, Continue reading

Growing Your Business with Joint Ventures

Whether you are starting out as an entrepreneur or have a successful business already, you know the importance of you clientele and growing your customer base. Sometimes it can be difficult to design and market new products and ideas on your own, especially if you are just starting out. One solution to this dilemma is Joint Ventures (JV). A joint venture is a business agreement between two parties with the intent to achieve a common goal.

Here are some great advantages Continue reading

Should Your Next Business Partner Be Your Rival?

Although many businesses focus on outperforming competitors by taking advantage of their competitive advantages, many would actually benefit by forming a strategic alliance and turning their competitor into their business partner. While it may not be the most conventional approach, businesses have figured out that in some situations it’s better to focus on growing the entire market, rather than fight for the largest market share of a small market.

A recent Harvard Business Review article discusses why this strategy has emerged Continue reading

The “Eight I’s” in Strategic Alliances

There may be no “I” in team, but there is certainly an “I” in strategic alliance. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, author Rosabeth Moss Kanter explains her “Eight I’s That Make We” concept. The article ironically plays with the well-known phrase and suggests that in order to be successful, a company should actually concentrate on the following “I’s” when in a strategic alliance: Continue reading

5 Ways to Collaborate With a Fellow Business

Forming company-client bonds is one of the most important aspects of running a business. Keeping customers coming back will provide you with stability and allow you room for potential growth. Collaboration with fellow businesses is just as important, because it allows you to develop relationships with companies that you can depend on. Continue reading

Preserving Trust in Strategic Alliances with Alliance Management

The role of an alliance manager in a strategic alliance is important during its formation because of the complexity of the agreements made. Then it becomes increasingly important later in the strategic alliance after it starts to lose its shine. It’s crucial to provide as much stability as possible, starting with keeping the same personnel throughout its duration. It is particularly difficult to maintain a high level of trust in the business relationship, and therefore, the role of the alliance manager is to sustain the level of trust by providing stability for all parties involved.

Because of the initial complexity when forming a strategic alliance, Continue reading

Assigning Responsibilities between Business Partners

There are many factors that demand attention when considering a business partner, but one of the most consistent pressing concerns is the delegation of work and responsibility, or more simply, “who’s going to do what?” Another company may seem like a good candidate for a business partner in theory, but in reality, the delegation of work may make the business partnership undesirable.

Because of the internal strife that may result from Continue reading

How Star Alliance helps Airlines get Ahead

The airline world is no stranger to corporate business alliances. These agreements mean that businesses cooperate substantially, and in addition, they make it less likely that one will push the other out of market share. In fact, in the airline world, these business alliances have become so popular that there are a few major known names.

One of the biggest is Star Alliance. Continue reading

Why Joint Ventures are Less Risky than Acquisitions

While acquisitions and joint ventures are both viable options for expanding businesses, they are both considerably different and depending on a company’s particular situation, one is after significantly more beneficial than the other. Joint ventures are commonly seen as less risky than acquisitions due to the information barriers during the acquisition process. In addition to being less risky, Continue reading

Power Partners Create a Foundation for Businesses

Keeping a business growing requires thinking about unconventional solutions. Sometimes when seeking a solution, it takes an angle from the other side to give a clearer light on the problem. Being power partners with another business is a great strategy to give businesses a new look at common problems.

Power partners are a great way to secure a consistent revenue flow to insure continued success. Continue reading

3 Steps to Find Alliance Partners For A Competitive Advantage

As a business owner, you have probably spent a lot of money in marketing campaigns to grow your brand and your business. Do you have the feeling that there is just something missing that is preventing you from getting the exposure you need and the competitive advantage you deserve? Have you ever considered seeking another business to form a partnership?

The key is to find another business that does things you cannot do to combine your strengths to create something very unique and valuable. Let’s look at some important 3 considerations in selecting business partners to give a competitive advantage over time:

Continue reading

3 Benefits of Joint Ventures

Launch a business from scratch with Joint Ventures (JV). Countless new business owners are launching new businesses using JV alone, proving to be the active element as to why they experienced success in their business. A partnership between two companies with similar assets is simply leveraged by a “joint venture.” When working through JV ventures, it is important to partner with them and not compete with them.

For instance, you may own a vitamin website and then contact the owner of a wellness website. See if you can leverage marketing your vitamins to the customers of their wellness site. They will say either “yes” or “no.” If the answer is “yes,” then it’s worth every effort when you start to build up your back office easily and experience rapid traffic and sales.

Most recently, Ford and GM have created a Joint Venture to develop new transmissions with 9 speeds for front week drive cars. They are jointly developing a new product for both companies and it won’t be in cars until 2016. Continue reading

How Value Added Resellers (VAR) Make It Work

Becoming a Value Added Reseller (VAR) is a lucrative way to add value and specialization to your product while saving yourself the development costs of manufacturing and developing the add-ons yourself. We’d like to offer you some tips in making this selling program work for you.

The most important thing is to establish yourself Continue reading

Two Steps to Use Business Alliances to Expand Your Service Offerings

Whether you are in accounting, finances, sales, consulting or another service industry, to grow your small business takes creativity. Using strategic business alliances allows you to develop a mutually beneficial relationship to expand your service offerings and increase your brand awareness.

Seek Vendors with a Shared Target Market

It may seem counterproductive to build a relationship with a business that shares your target market. You are not sleeping with the enemy. Continue reading

Alliance Management Requires Performance Management

The purpose of a business alliance is to bring two or more companies together to achieve defined strategic goals. The benefit is to reduce risk, increase rewards, and leverage resources. But how do you know if you’re successful? Alliance management requires you to assess performance. 

Over ten years ago, McKinsey & Company reviewed the financial and strategic outcomes of hundreds of business alliances. Their assessment was that the overall success rate was slightly higher than 50 percent. Who knew? Not the executives, according to the study.

To make sure this doesn’t happen to your business alliances Continue reading

Business Alliances Provide Stability with Reduced Risk

A business alliance is a tool used by businesses to stabilize a market so that each company benefits. There are several types of business alliances with each specialized to effect certain conditions for different scenarios. A business should consider the needs before entering an alliance so that the correct type can be addressed for the best and most beneficial results.

The types of alliances include: Continue reading

Famous Strategic Alliances that Paid Off and Changed the World

Strategic alliances are an increasingly common sight in the modern business landscape. A study by Booze-Allen & Hamilton showed 20,000 new alliances formed between 1987 and 1992. One reason for this is the need for brand recognition in a crowded global market and because there have been many success stories of strategic alliances that have helped companies take off. Academics talk of the effectiveness of alliances in terms of game theory, these real life examples are a testament to the success of such a bold business move.

Starbucks and Barnes & Noble

The coffee house and the bookstore. Continue reading

A Strategic Alliance is NOT a Joint Venture

In a 2010 Inc. post, “How to Build Business Alliances,” I was surprised to read the very first line:

The basic logic of the strategic alliance – a joint venture between two companies – is often irresistible: It’s difficult to break into new markets, and a partnership can bring instant access to new customers. 

What? A strategic alliance is not a joint venture. Yes, a joint venture is technically a strategic alliance. However, the reverse is not true.

Specifically, a joint venture occurs when two companies invest finances to create a third, jointly owned company. Continue reading

Collaboration: The Best Idea for 2013

Business tends to be competitive – like sports. Not that competition is wrong. However, in the words of Michael Jordan, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

One of the best trends that we see for 2013 is collaboration. You want to promote your business, brand, product, or service, determine whom you can make a power partner or where you can develop a strategic alliance.

In the 2008 report from IBM, Continue reading