A Strategic Alliance can be defined as a collaborative agreement or as an association between two or more companies or organizations formed to pursue a set of agreed upon goals while remaining independent companies or organizations. It can also be seen as an arrangement whereby complimentary services or products stand behind a mutually beneficial relationship. Strategic alliances usually are most effective when the entities involved have complementary strengths.
For example, assume your company provides roofing services. A strategic alliance that could be beneficial for you might be with a gutter installation and repair service, a framer, general contractor or perhaps a chimney repair service (since they will see first-hand the condition of a roof perhaps long before a homeowner might). Another example might be between an Estate Attorney and a Financial Planner. The possibilities are endless.
Here are the ten (10) suggested actions you can take towards building successful strategic alliances:
- Develop a focused winning strategy for the alliance that comes from the distinctive competencies and competitive advantages of the partners in the selected target market(s).
- Develop clearly defined objectives for the alliance to ensure there will not be a goal divergence or conflict between alliance partners.
- Recruit and select a strategic partner based upon your focused winning strategy, your goals & objectives and your values system.
- Develop an effective structure with a clear purpose to govern and manage the alliance.
- Develop core competencies in collaboration and look for people who already have a proven ability to work in a collaborative environment.
- Prepare to proactively manage the company cultural challenges that may arise between the alliance partners.
- Respect and protect the brand of each partner.
- Determine and align decision rights to define what decisions are important to the alliance, which partner should make them and how the decisions will be made and monitored.
- Develop core competencies in change management to most effectively participate in a flexible, adaptable strategic alliance.
- Develop and agree upon an exit strategy for the alliance. It is important to have agreement in advance on how the alliance will be concluded if and when it may fail and/or when it has fulfilled its mission and achieved its goals and objectives.
Great business opportunities can be created through the extension of strategic alliances. If you would like to discuss proven strategies, feel free to reach out to us at any time at 973-601-3275.
