Creating Profit Through Alliances - business models for collaboration E-book | Page 32

In the partner selection phase, you need to
determine with which company you can achieve the
best collaboration. Here, the three most important
aspects are translated into search criteria:





Business model: Which enterprise possesses the
competences that I lack to be successful in the
market? What else does the company do? Is
there an overlap in activities or will I actually be
moving into a wholly other sector?
(Contractual) Basis: Is the company willing to
enter into an alliance? Does it suit their
strategy? Can we agree upon a suitable form?
Balance between partners: How is the relational
„click‟? Is it a party with a comparable culture
and corresponding priorities? Is there scope for
trust in this collaboration? Will I retain sufficient
influence in this collaboration and is it possible
to preserve the character of my company?

This "3-B model" is supported by research by
Michigan State University14 into the steps that
successful businesses take in their partner selection.
It is first of all important that a partner can provide
the lacking competences. This means that the partner
possesses patents, knowledge, people or resources
that are valuable to your company. Here, two aspects
need to be taken into consideration:




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The knowledge must connect to the knowledge
already available within the company. If there is
too much distance between the two companies'
knowledge or working methods, then it will be
difficult to set up a successful collaboration.
The two companies' scope should be sufficiently
distinct to avoid getting in each other's way. The
collaboration often has little value for
overlapping areas, and can instead frustrate a
straightforward competitive situation.

Ideally, a partner possesses knowledge or resources
that lie just beyond the reach of your own company,
or that would require too much time or money to
build up (Figure 16). Through the interaction with
your partner you can then acquire knowledge of
these resources and develop your company one step
in that direction, without posing a threat to your
partner.

Scope
partner
too
far away

Scope that can be
reached by the partner

Scope
of right
partner

Scope that can be
reached alone

Scope
of own
company
Scope
partner
too close

Figure 16. Finding the right partner based on business
scope

The contribution of valuable competences should
always be reciprocal: your company must also
contribute knowledge or resources that are valuable
to your partner. If not, then the collaboration lacks a
solid foundation.
An essential step in the partnering process is to draw
up a collaboration agreement or partnership
agreement. In this agreement the partners define
how they wish to work together, for how long, and
how the costs and revenue will be divided. In the
partner selection stage, one of the questions is
whether the strategies of each of the partners allow
for a model with shared governance and long-term
dependency. How is the partner company structured
and how will the alliance be positioned? Is the