Category Archives: Strategic Alliances

Famous Strategic Alliances that Paid Off and Changed the World

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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 →

Why Creating Strategic Alliances Helps your Business Grow

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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

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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

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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 →

Sales Strategies Heading into 2013

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Sometimes it’s difficult not to think of those who work in sales as anything more than the slick late night used car sales people from days gone by. However, much has changed over the last 30 years, especially when it comes to sales strategies.

Heading into 2013 it’s critical for your sales team to understand what factors Continue reading →

Entrepreneurs Leading With Ideas

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Many people think that being business entrepreneurs means you have a new exciting product to offer the world. That may be true in some cases but not in all. The dictionary defines an entrepreneur as a person who organizes and manages a business usually with considerable unique ideas, initiative and risk. Today’s entrepreneur thinks outside of the box. More and more business is becoming global. It is often the idea that is central to success. It is the idea about an old product that often launches a great business.

You do not have to invent a new mousetrap to become the king of pest control. If you have an idea on how to do it better, provide great service and make your customers happy then you are a potentially successful entrepreneur. You just have to take action. Continue reading →

Several Reasons Why You Need Business Alliances

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As a business owner, you should always be looking for a way to increase your bottom line. There are different strategies claiming they can help you increase your business, but one that is often overlooked is forming business alliances. This term might be complete Greek to you, so here’s a quick breakdown of what it is. Continue reading →

Power Partners: It’s Not What You Know But Who You Know

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You may have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” In most cases that applies to the business world. Developing partnerships and networking to broaden your people base is one important component of being successful in your business. It is defined by whom you know. This is never more true than when building relationships.

Finding your Power Partners is not only about you, it’s about them. Continue reading →

Successful Entrepreneurs Become Successful Business Partners

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There’s an interesting story about the partnering of the ice cream giant, Baskin-Robbins.

According to a post in Entrepreneur, Burton Baskin and Irvine Robbins each began their ice cream stores as separate companies at the advice of Robbins’ father. Dad thought that the men would take too much time making compromises and “kill the product’s potential.”

So only after each had launched successful separate businesses did they subsequently become business partners.  Continue reading →

Strategic Alliances: Creating and Maintaining

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Sustaining strategic alliances for success requires short-term planning and planning over the long-term. You need to determine how to best use your available resources to ensure you have the infrastructure in place. An article posted on the Financial Post talks about building and maintaining strategic alliances.

“As companies enter into an array of alliances, the potential for achieving benefits can increase dramatically.”

A portfolio of alliances Continue reading →

Alliance Performance Coaching: Better Process Makes Better Practice

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There’s an interesting video on YouTube featuring former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. In it Schmidt explains the benefits of having a coach. He tells the story of his early years as CEO when a board member suggested that he find one. Though Schmidt felt there was nothing wrong – he was the CEO, after all – he took the board member’s advice and began to work with a coach. As Schmidt explains in the video, a coach helps give perspective to things we are unable to see ourselves.

The same is true with alliances.  Continue reading →

How Value Added Resellers (VAR) Can Help You Find More Hours in a Day

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As an Entrepreneur what is the one resource you wish you more of right now? I’d be willing to bet the answer is most likely time. If you’re running low on energy there’s always more coffee, right? But, if you find you just don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done what do you do? You can’t add more hours to the clock.

So how do you free up more of your time? Continue reading →

Strategic Alliances: Secrets from Fortune 500 for any businesses

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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 →

Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond Organic Growth

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When it comes to their growth strategy, most entrepreneurs have some variation on the same theme:  produce a good or service,  market it, and supply that good or service to as many people in as big of a geographical area as possible.  It’s called organic growth, and it’s a great strategy–but it also has its limits. There is a point in the lifecycle of every business where the company has three choices for continued growth:  build, borrow, or buy.  A new book out Continue reading →

Collaboration in Small Business: Who Needs It?

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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 →

The Best Sales Strategy: Fix the Customer’s Problem

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Whenever you go into a sales meeting, you are on the spot. Your goal is to explain why your prospect should use your company’s product (or service). The best way to convince them is through demonstration.

Demonstrating what your product can do for them is a great sales strategy. However, it’s even better if you can demonstrate how your product will fix this customer’s current problem. What is the pain that the customer is experiencing?

Defining the Customer’s Problem 

Your goal is to help your customer. Your product must fulfill a need. Hopefully, this need has previously gone unfulfilled. But what exactly is that need and how will your product help?  Continue reading →

Business Partners, Joint Ventures and the Win-Win-Win Strategy

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Most people are very familiar with the idea of “win-win” in the development of joint ventures. This way of thinking has helped push old world business owners into thinking about the benefits of helping their business partners as well as themselves.

To strengthen business relationships, you need to focus on what would benefit both parties. The result creates more of a unified force. Asking yourself how you can help your business partner will truly make a huge difference in the long-term stability of your venture. A good way to start a relationship is to ask both parties for their Conditions of Success (COS). Then everyone knows what is expected at the end for joint success.

Continue reading →

Looking for Your Next Business Partner

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You’re a talented and innovative thinker planning to launch a ground-floor venture. Should you go it alone or bring in a business partner?

As we mentioned in our earlier blog, “Is it Too Much to Ask for the Perfect Business Partner?” a number of business pairings throughout the years have turned into great successes. Primarily because of the skills and traits each partner brought to the pair. However, a lot had to do with the actual relationship between the individuals involved.

Not Everyone Should Be Your Partner

This seems like an obvious statement. However, Continue reading →

3 Questions to Develop Your Channels of Distribution Strategy

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When developing a new product or service, one of the first things to consider is how to get it to the end-user. Deciding on what channels of distribution to use is a very important business decision that must be made correctly. Using the wrong channels of distribution costs you money and depletes the value of your product.

1) How does the end-user want to buy?

To answer this, you’ll need to understand your customers and your relationship to them. How does your customer prefer to buy this product? Will they need customization or regular service? Maybe your customer needs other products or services to be able to use your product. Continue reading →

Joint Ventures Must Be Mutually Beneficial

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It’s hard to imagine peanut butter’s success without jelly and vice versa.  Without the unique qualities of both these elements, the PB&J would have its anonymity.  Like this staple sandwich, so many businesses are also making successful names for themselves through their wise joint ventures with other companies.

Choosing just the right partner, however, is just as important as selecting that special someone in your personal life.  If you don’t find a genuine, natural fit, it could be disastrous to both your companies.

So, how then do you make a joint venture beneficial to your company?   Continue reading →