The Business Case Solution™ for Alliances & Partners
Experience shows that business alliances usually succeed or fail depending on the partners' ability to address some hard questions before starting off together.
Before launching an alliance or joint venture, potential partners should be asking and answering questions such as these:
- Strategic Fit
How do you know that 1 + 1 equals more than 2 in the eyes of the market?
Do you have a competitive strategy for the alliance as a whole?
Where do the partners complement each others' strengths?
Where are the potential conflicts of interest? - Alliance Governance
Who is responsible for each part of the joint operation?
Are all the pieces under control?
How is management control exercised?
Are all the partners fully committed? - Metrics (measurement)
Which measures of operational performance need to be tracked?
What are early indicators that business performance is or is not on course?
Is there a good business model in store for all partners?
Do the partners share costs and risks evenly?
Three Points of View
Answering these questions with confidence calls for careful thinking from at least three points of view:
- The overall alliance or partnership. This is the "face" seen by customers, by the market, and by the competition.
- Each member of the alliance, or each partner. Each needs to be sure of gains from the proposed alliance (or proposed alliance product, service, or solution).
Alliance planning brings at least three interacting business models to the table. Each needs to promise profits and a healthy business. Each has to be tested with a rigorous risk and sensitivity analysis. The assumptions and practical realities behind each business model also have to be questioned and tested. Resource requirements should be assessed realistically, resource limits should be acknowledged, and resource responsibilities should be spelled out and owned.
All of these needs can make the business planning challenges seem hopelessly complex, especially if the proposed alliance or alliance solution is new. There is, however, a fast and cost-effective solution.
The Business Case Solution for Alliances and Partners
Since 1994, Solution Matrix Ltd. has helped dozens of companies develop solid answers to the questions above with a case building project called "The Business Case Solution for Alliances and Partners.™ The project is designed with methods that have been "battle hardened" in shaping some of the world's most formidable and successful business alliances (please click here for more information on our clients).
Working with you and your partners, we lead you to identify the most important questions to ask, deal with competitive and confidentiality issues that can threaten the relationship, and project business results for the alliance and for each partner.
The heart of the The Business Case Solution for Alliances and Partners is a structured, collaborative workshop, led by Solution Matrix consultants. The workshop is normally scheduled for 3 consecutive business days at one or more of the partner sites.
For more information about the Business Case Solution for Alliances and Partners, or to request a formal proposal, please contact Solution Matrix Ltd.
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