Cat writes about how we can achieve more through Strategic Alliances...The world is making such technological advancements it is sometimes hard to comprehend, never mind keep up. How do technology companies do it? Are employees akin to elves and work all hours of the day and night to create this high-technology magic? Quite possibly. But more commonly, technology companies are forming strategic alliances to not just stay ahead but lead the way.
Strategic alliances are all about the collaboration of companies, or even individual people, with complimentary resources and capabilities to achieve, together, more than they could separately. It is important that the relationships formed are in line with an organisation’s own strategy and direction and the potential benefits are huge. Market entry, risk sharing and expenses are among such benefits. In terms of innovation, the shared expertise, with each organisation bringing different skills and ideas to the table, is where the most extraordinary shifts can be made by strategic alliances.
We have focused on creating strategic alliances this year and the results have been greater than any of us could have imagined. The key is to find the mutual opportunities and create win-win situations. The parties are then dedicated to the relationship and working together to push the boundaries. It is important to keep pushing forward too.
Meetings are not meant to get longer nor the decisions slower. Strategic alliances are about being fast thinking and rapid moving to be innovative and gain competitive advantage. It is about setting the standard, the creation of new ideas and leading the way. The approach particularly suits fast growing companies but long established companies, such as Toshiba, often have a company culture of collaboration that has proved sustainable.
Toshiba‘s main business is infrastructure, consumer products, electronic devices and components. They firmly believe that a company cannot achieve everything by itself. Their approach is to develop relationships with partners who have different technologies. For example, they formed a relationship with Apple to develop multimedia computer products. Whilst Apple’s strength lay in software technology, Toshiba had a great deal of manufacturing expertise. Interestingly, even on a local level in Japan, Toshiba is a part of group of companies whom all have interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. This set up became incredibly common in Japan post World War II and is known as a keiretsu.
Whilst the true keiretsu model hasn’t appeared outside Japan, many non-Japanese businesses are described as keiretsu such as the Virgin Group, Tata Group and Cisco Systems. These companies are always associated with innovation, breaking boundaries, and prosperity. And I’m sure Mr Branson doesn’t employ little elves to achieve all that success.
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