Creating Profit Through Alliances - business models for collaboration E-book | Page 8

hold. I therefore introduce three adjusted strategies
for differentiation: creating customer relevance,
having a unique product and – for the short term –
achieving cost advantages.
Chapter 2 introduces the concept of alliances from a
resource perspective. What competences do you need
to successfully execute your strategy? Alliances are
compared to other sourcing methods, and the process
of forging an alliance is described step by step. With
reference to the definition of a partnership, ten types
of alliances are presented.
Chapter 3 elaborates the three strategies for
differentiation introduced in Chapter 1. Exploring how
the ten types of alliances contribute to these
strategies, the focus is on the added value of an
alliance compared to direct investment. Two further
aspects are described: additional value drivers such as
market dominance and recurrent turnover, and the
value of participating in a network.
Chapter 4 delves deeper into the financial structure of
each type of alliance. Ways of splitting revenue and
costs and of allocating intellectual property rights are
detailed for various situations. You can read this as a
sort of cookbook for your own situation, and I suggest
you treat it accordingly: if you do not need a dessert,
just skip the corresponding recipes.
Finally, Chapter 5 addresses some of the legal aspects
of forging an alliance. Most types of alliances can be
arranged through a contract or a new legal entity,

6

that is, a joint venture. A practical arrangement for
intellectual property rights is suggested and
complicating factors are discussed, such as a
partnership between two companies significantly
different in size. And, finally, termination clauses
should not be omitted.
In my research I found that there is hardly any case
material available about the way alliances are
structured financially. It therefore gives me great
pleasure to include cases of 14 different companies
that were open and kind enough to disclose their
working methods. In addition to these companies, I
had off-the-record interviews with alliance managers
of Oracle, Ebay, Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and Thales.
I regard this book as a working document. It will
therefore be available as a PDF document and ebook,
with only a limited edition in print. It is likely that a
new edition will be published in 2012, and I would
therefore welcome further input in the form of new
models and cases.
The downloadable version of the book will have a
broad margin for „virtual‟ sticky notes. These can offer
brief examples, suggestions for further reading, links
to Internet sites or even corrections. All readers are
invited to share their knowledge. This way the book
can also serve as a discussion document.
Alfred Griffioen
January 2011
If you have any comments
or additions, please email
these to alfred.griffioen@
allianceexperts.com and I
will post them as sticky
notes in the document
within a few weeks.