The Case For Business Growth Using Strategic Alliances

Strategic alliances are quite common for businesses in today’s climate. This type of cooperation is a long-term partnership between two parties. It creates a win-win situation for both sides.  A key component to the relationship is the ability of each partner to reach individual strategic business goals. These goals should be achieved quicker and at lower cost through the alliance relationship than if the individual party tries to go at it alone. 

Generally, successful strategic alliances lead to growth for all parties involved. Seeing the importance of strategic alliances, large corporations have been engaging in them for years. In this business world, the partnership can apply to you as small businesses as well.

WHY STRATEGIC ALLIANCES ARE THE GREATEST WEAPON FOR YOUR BUSINESS

There are various reasons a business chooses to enter into strategic alliances: resource or knowledge acquisition, the opportunity to grow, economies of scale, new target market access, and risk allocation. Contracting with big corporations is an effective method for small businesses to grow their business, strike a substantial profit, and expand their customer base while staying cost-effective.

One of the crucial factors of strategic alliances is to have the right partners. Your decision in choosing the right partner for your needs and your goal is the single greatest tool that you have.  It gives you and your business agility and flexibility. Your partner selection is like figuring out the right piece of the puzzle to fit into the big picture, regardless of its size and functions. With your incredible solving skill, it doesn't matter how complex the puzzle gets; you can manage through any puzzle and put puzzle pieces together for the great benefits of your business.

The dominant reason small business owners struggle with their business is their lack of resources. Corporates need to be assured and can confirm that a small business can handle the project.  A large number of small businesses consistently fail to show that they have the capacity to handle these types of contracts and requirements.  Small businesses can be expert at making their products, but there are many other needed factors to maintain a business. With that being said, forming a strategic alliance with large corporations and other supplier partners will leverage small businesses. However, large corporations have complex needs to fulfill and high requirements of alliance partners. That’s why small businesses need guidance and a structured approach to become the best in class and be able to satisfy these complex demands.

REASONS STRATEGIC ALLIANCE FAILS

Formation of strategic alliances brings many benefits for the business, but it also can provoke many problems that could damage further relationships. In the past, we have tried and seen many alliances fail and let me tell you two primary reasons that lead to their collapse.      

   1.   THE ALLIANCE IS ILL-CONCEIVED.

It is common for an alliance to be hastily put together to satisfy an immediate contract or business opportunity.  Business owners know they need help but have not had the opportunity to find the right alliance partner.  It some instances, they don’t have the time to even find the best partner.  This rush to find a solution in the absence of the greater context of a long-term strategy and a proven partner selection process places both businesses in a no-win situation.   When the alliance is ill-conceived, they're poorly designed and poorly implemented. There will be a risk of breaking the alliance with the arising problems such as the lack of coordination between management, lack of trust from both sides, or the highly relational risk where the member’s priority is their self-interest rather than the common goals of the alliance.

   2.   THE ALLIANCE IS UNABLE TO ADAPT THE MARKET CHANGES

The second reason is that there was no structure inherent in the relationship that allowed the alliance to adapt and change course as the market conditions and the reason for the alliance changed. One of the most significant problems encountering the partners is the difference in culture and marketplace, for example, the difference in Western’s and Eastern’s business manners and languages or the differences in urban versus suburban or north vs south’s approach to business including their relationships with their suppliers, employees, and local communities.

HOW CAN A BUSINESS PARTNER BLUEPRINT HELP YOU?

When approaching strategic alliances, many small businesses owners find the method intimidating and skeptical. With A Business Partner Blueprint, we provide educational services and training that help you find the best partners for your ideal business. We are here to help you develop the skill set and competency to advance and transform your business into a long-term sustainable growth engine. We offer the resources for you to give your business a competitive advantage and gain more opportunities in landing big corporate contracts. A Business Partner Blueprint will assist you along the journey and deliver all you need to take your business to the top of the business world.

CONCLUSION

The market is changing around you every day. You always have to adapt, and you're going to need a framework that helps you to manage through it. As you're building your ideal business, you want to make sure you've got the best possible tools in your toolkit to get there. We believe knowing how to develop strategic alliances is the single best tool to have in your business growth and business survival kit.