Business Alliances: How Coffee And Payment Services Combined For Greater Outcomes

Alliances with your coffee shopWalk into any Starbucks store in the country and become instantly greeted by the welcoming smells of freshly brewed coffee. You may also notice the happy customers going over business plans, reviewing homework, or simply surfing the Internet at their leisure. In general, the customer base of Starbucks is a happy group willing to fork over five dollars or more for their favorite coffee. However, there is always room for improvement.  Continue reading

Succeeding with Business Alliances

Why enter into a business alliance? The main motivations include cost reduction, the improvement of service or capture more customers. Here are 5 kinds of business alliances that business-oriented minds need to know about: Continue reading

How Strategic Alliances Improved the Airlines Industry

There are many cases in which two competing companies would both be better off if they formed a strategic alliance. The companies in the alliance would still differentiate themselves, but at the same time, they’ve successfully removed a competitive threat. A situation like this, of course, depends on the companies and the industry, but it’s lesson can be applied to several other cases.

An Ivey Business Journal article discusses strategic alliances Continue reading

Use Alliance Management to “Get it Right”, because Alliances Have Limitless Potential

If your business is stagnant and needs a fresh and new division, product or service; or if you’re a new business and you need credibility or access to an established customer base, an alliance is a great way to get where you need to be.

Why Use Alliance Management?

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Power Partners, You Know You Need them, but Do You Really Have Time to Build Alliances Properly?

It’s official. The public’s buying behavior has changed. Every major marketing firm on Madison Avenue now has an Internet Marketing division; and many experts believe online marketing is even more powerful than TV, Radio and Print marketing is for many products and services. Everyone from grandpa to toddlers is becoming more tech savvy; and consumers are making buying decisions based on social and environmental responsibility.

What do You Do?

Well, totally changing your business model is out of the question for a multitude of reasons. However, a new joint venture can quickly gain you access to new customers, more capital, more technological resources; and give you more credibility in the modern marketplace. Continue reading

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

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

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

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:

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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

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

Choosing the Best Alliance Management Professional Makes all the Difference in the World

Sometimes it’s tough to go it alone, especially if you’re a small business owner. Because of today’s fast-paced and constantly changing business environment, it’s critical to move quickly to take advantage of opportunities.

Consequently, many business owners are seeking alliance management professionals to help them achieve their business objectives rather than building or buying something new. Continue reading

Why Creating Strategic Alliances Helps your Business Grow

Reaching out to like-minded individuals is one aspect of creating new business and it the same effect that happens when reaching out to like-minded businesses or competitors of the same or different genre. Specifically speaking building Strategic Alliances is networking with companies and or vendors that deal within the same area of business. For instance, a local business needs to increase sales. One way they can accomplish this is to find another local business that caters to a similar demographic and build a working relationship that benefits both companies by increasing the audience of both through joint advertising. 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

Strategic Alliances: Secrets from Fortune 500 for any businesses

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. When you form a strategic alliance with another company, you get the benefits of leveraging an expertise, product, service or asset that isn’t even yours. Yet, they call on the same customers you do.

Big businesses have been reaping the rewards of these relationships for years. Continue reading

Collaboration in Small Business: Who Needs It?

Chances are the answer to the above question is easy: we all do. However, what exactly is the benefit of having a business collaborator? Many of us just don’t like other people getting involved in our own business. Too many people having a say in how a business is run can slow efficiency and even detract from business quality. This does not include any personal frustrations from working with people with whom we simply do not like. But small business collaboration brings advantages to the table that make it worth the trouble. That’s why it’s so important to choose your business collaborators carefully.

A business collaboration is a relationship two or more businesses have with one another that benefit all involved. Continue reading