Strategic alliances are an integral part of a thriving innovative, diverse, and creative business world. The core of any successful alliance derives from both parties sharing resources, and debating ideas. The result, an open and thoughtful approach to business practices. With that in mind, business is business. When it comes down to the core issues of failing alliances, each team owns their success.
A new approach to alliance management has been broached and tested, the holistic approach.
What is Holistic?
First, we must understand what the term holistic means. In general, terms, holistic is defined as the “comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.” Holistic is a simple way of referring to a system as a whole. All the various parts have a cause and effect upon each other.
In business terms, a holistic management approach looks to all parts of an organization as interconnected. If you decrease the staffing of a shipping department, that will slow the rate in which items are mailed. Result affected customer service and sales. By managing an entire organization as one entity rather than separate departments, you are able to instill an internal learning system. This reflects real-time feedback on the effectiveness of changes in processes and systems.
The Holistic Alliance Management
Pierre Dussauge, Professor of Strategy and Business Policy at HEC Paris, “alliances enable companies to take advantage of opportunities, acquire new or complementary skills and/or technologies, counter competition, enter new markets, and more. Yet to harvest such benefits, companies must approach alliances in a structured and comprehensive fashion. Firms are often involved in numerous alliances. All must be considered to ensure that the cost of an additional alliance not outweigh its expected benefits.”
A holistic approach lends to success due to its thoughtful and strategic management style. Inter-connectivity is one of the most beautiful and frustrating parts of alliance management. While positive outcomes can be had from a trickle down effect of change, they must be handled with care to see that every partner in an alliance receives equal benefits as well as shares equal resources.
For more information on holistic and strategic alliance management, feel free to visit the below related articles:
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Strategic Alliances: The Need for a Holistic Approach
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3rd Eagle is a premier consulting firm that specializes in various aspects of business start-ups and ventures including aiding in the kindling, building, and sustaining of positive business alliances, partnerships, and generative collaborations. For more information, contact us.