Collaborative offering
those of previous assignments, or with reference to competitors in the market. But often it will just be a matter of trust that partners do not add an extra margin.
The second aspect concerns the legal form chosen for the offering. Does one partner act as chief contracting party, with a purchasing relationship towards the other partner or partners? This means a bigger risk for this partner; a risk that can be reduced by:
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� � arranging that the partners are only paid after the client has paid and no further claims can be expected( back-to-back construction); requesting a bank guarantee that can be claimed in the event of delivery problems; requesting guarantees from a holding company or shareholder to prevent the partner from going bankrupt as a result of setbacks during the project or of liabilities afterwards.
In collaborative offering, two or more companies will often want to supply their own part of the solution requested by the customer, but it also requires overall coordination and, in many instances, the customer will want to deal with just one contact point. The latter wish is in order to prevent ending up with a defective solution, should the separate supplies fail to integrate seamlessly.
In formulating a collaborative offering, there are a number of pricing aspects to consider. The first question is what margin the businesses apply in their pricing of their own contribution to the solution. Not all suppliers are willing to fully disclose their cost price calculations, and the extent to which overhead, capacity utilisation and possible inefficiencies are incorporated varies among companies. Prices can sometimes be compared to
Any reduction of this risk should be reflected in a smaller compensation premium for the chief contracting party. However, percentages of 10 to 30 % are not unusual.
Alternatively, the offer can be made as a legal partnership in which both partners have an equal position. If this implies limited liability for the partners / shareholders, this means restricted claim options for the client, who thus will have to consent to that.
Equal collaborations without limited liability for the participating parties can have the consequence that liabilities arise for both parties, instead of for just one. One reason to opt for this may relate to fiscal facilities. In multinationals, the national organisations may choose this option because share transactions, where liabilities can be limited, require the head office ' s permission.
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