GAINING COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

No company can go it alone. For industry giants and ambitious start-ups alike, strategic partnership have become central to competitive success in fast-changing global markets. More than ever, many of the skills and resources essential to a company’s future prosperity lie outside of the firm’s boundaries, and outside management’s direct control. In this new world of networks, coalitions, and alliances, strategic partnerships are not an options but a necessity. To fully exploit the opportunities open to it, a company today must have an ability to conceive, shape and sustain a wide variety of strategic partnerships. Indeed, right now, a plethora of new and imaginative strategic alliances is transforming industries from transportation to communication, health care, life sciences, media and entertainment, information technology, aerospace, and beyond. However while alliances can create enormous wealth, they can also become black holes for management time and resources.