Category Archives: Strategic Alliances

Corporate Collaboration Leads to Global Sustainability

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The traditional business paradigm encouraged companies to secure their assets by remaining isolated from other corporations. While businesses still must protect their products and designs, there is a sentiment today that appreciates the benefits that the world gains when all business subscribe to collaboration to solve global issues.

The catalyst for this shift is the fact that business collaboration is necessary in a socially sustainable world (from Mashable Social Media). The advent of the virtual world and the social media storm that ensued has demonstrated the revolutionary power that exists when people work together.

Certainly, businesses must operate with a certain level of autonomy Continue reading →

Your Best Power Partners May be Right Down the Street

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I came across a blog the other day written several years ago by Al Lautenslager for Entrepreneur.com.

He tells a story of walking into the dry cleaners and finding a $5-off coupon for the pizza joint a few doors away. Deciding to enjoy some pizza, he walks to the pizza place to redeem the coupon and there on the counter he finds a $5-off coupon for the dry cleaner. This might be called reciprocal marketing or, as Al suggests, fusion marketing. Whatever you call it, it makes sense.

Finding a power partner – Continue reading →

How Collaboration Can Save Your Small Business

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A small business starting up faces a lot of challenges, and many of those challenges are due to limited resources. Small businesses have to find creative ways to establish themselves as legitimate competition for their often much larger competitors, and somehow reach enough customers to not only maintain itself, but to grow as well. It’s a daunting situation, and according to a recent working paper from Harvard summarizes that it is harder for those just starting to succeed. But those that do succeed show an interesting trend in ideas: a lot of the success comes from some form of collaboration, either in the form of funding or in the form of ideas passed on to beginning entrepreneurs from their former employers.  But collaboration can go much deeper and be much more fulfilling than that.

Kimber Lanning’s “Roosevelt Row” in Phoenix, AZ is one inspirational example of how Continue reading →

Is it Too Much to Ask for the Perfect Business Partner?

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Think of all the famous and successful business pairings there are and have been in the world. People like Ben and Jerry of ice cream fame or Warner Bros. moguls Sam, Jack, Albert, and Harry. There’s Bill Hewlett and David Packard; Richard and Maurice McDonald; and Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from Apple. So what makes a perfect business partner?

According to the Forbes article, “What to Look for in a Business Partner,” writer Melanie Lindner suggests five necessary traits to make a business partnership work. Continue reading →

9 New Steps for Managing Strategic Alliances That Work

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In a recent press release, Hallmark, the world’s leading greeting card brand, announced a strategic alliance with Shutterfly Inc., a leading Internet-based digital photo site. The goal is to have “exclusive Hallmark-designed customizable cards featured on Shutterfly’s new personalized greeting card site, Treat.com.”

According to Investopedia.com, a strategic alliance is… Continue reading →

Joint Ventures Are for Businesses of All Sizes

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Successful businesses around the world understand the power of creating joint ventures to grow their business. Developing relationships with other companies gives you the ability to grow your revenues and has been used by corporate giants and small business owners. The principle works as it is based on strategic alliances.

What Is A Joint Venture?

A joint venture is essentially partnering with other businesses to create a partnership. Continue reading →

Why Use A Sales Strategy to Ensure Success

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As many people know, it can be very difficult to grow revenue for their company. Do you have the right sales strategy in place? Maybe you don’t even have a written strategy. Are sales growing as expected? Maybe you should double check your sales strategy or put one in place to guarantee your company continues to have some growth.

The first reason you should check your strategy is to ensure your entire sales team and the whole company Continue reading →

Entrepreneurs Under 30 Willing to Take Risks – Shake the World

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For the under-30 crowd, a career isn’t about graduating college and working for a Fortune 500 company anymore. It’s about finding a passion, usually involving social, economic, or environmental issues.

In the May 2012 The Tennessean article, “Young entrepreneurs blaze their own trail,” writer Duane Marstellar suggests that more and more young adults are becoming entrepreneurs for economic and personal reasons. Marstellar cites:

Joblessness among 18- to 29-year-olds nationally Continue reading →

Power Partners: The Best of Business Strategies

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Power Partners is a compelling concept. Simply put, it is a group of businesses that band together to use and promote the products of the other businesses in the group. There is an old song; “No Man is an Island.” No one can do it alone in the business world.

As much as we might want to think that we can win the battle alone; it just does not work that way. No matter what your line of work, you cannot afford to stand alone. You need people promoting your business and helping to build your clientele. Yes, we have many online marketing tools to help us out, but what is better than “word of mouth,” especially when it comes from people you trust.

Find the people your customers trust, and build a relationship with them. Continue reading →

Help for Entrepreneurs is Just a Click Away

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Everyone has a dream to make it big with one invention or idea that could change the world. Before embarking on that dream, however, it is important to lay the foundation for your success. Remember, you are leaving the security of a steady paycheck to pursue your dream as an entrepreneur. Therefore, one cannot simply make this huge leap without careful planning and even some soul searching. Continue reading →

Channel or Direct Sales: Should You Cut Out the Middleman?

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The shortest distance between two points is always a straight line. However, selling directly to your customer instead of developing an indirect sales channel isn’t just about cutting out the middleman and keeping all the profit for yourself. It’s about considering the pluses and minuses of going it alone.

Selling direct may sound like the most profitable way for a company to do business, until you consider the costs that go into selling this way. Let’s compare Microsoft and Apple.

For the most part, Apple sells direct. Continue reading →

Building Strategic Alliances is necessary to business success

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Building alliances can be tricky. Building strategic alliances is time consuming in that to do it well, you need to be able to see the big picture. In a recent article written by Ken Lyons; 63 Free (or Almost Free) Ways to Market Your Business, each and every suggestion has its roots in building relationshipsKen’s advice isn’t repetitive. It’s just that the art of building strategic alliances is in and of itself the most effective, direct, and fool proof way of marketing your business.

Continue reading →