Alliances and Partnerships

Alex Roberts and William Wallace

Alliances and partnerships are becoming increasingly popular in a range of industries and sectors. Strategic alliances offer the potential advantages of combining resources and sharing customer bases without the potential disadvantages of control dilution and cultural resistance. Strategic alliances can quickly establish formidable business groupings that are flexible and responsive and where the interests of the individual partners are reflected in the interests of the alliance as a whole.

Any proposed alliance or partnership has to generate the potential to add value. The alliance must contribute towards the strategic objectives of the organisations, and the likely outcomes of the alliance must be properly aligned to the required strategic outcomes of those organisations. Finally the alliance has to be made to work. A strategic alliance can be planned and executed systematically using project management tools and techniques.

Topics covered

Background to alliances and partnerships.
Alliances and the value chain.
Strategic focus and strategic drift.
Alliance and partnership risk.
Partner selection.
Forming the alliance.
Making alliances and partnerships work.

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Safwat Kabany
Syria

For Safwat Kabany, from Syria, doing his MBA with Edinburgh Business School was the most logical choice. "I'm in the petrochemical industry and Heriot-Watt University is one of the world-leading academic institutions in this field of industry. I therefore knew a lot about the high standards at Heriot-Watt and these are certainly evident in EBS's MBA programme."

Safwat decided to do the programme as a full-time on-campus student, which was not without its challenges, particularly for a foreign student. "I had to cope with both language and cultural differences, which at first were quite daunting. EBS, however, is very skilled at dealing with people from different backgrounds and cultures and it wasn't long before I felt very comfortable in this environment. The faculty are extremely helpful and take a keen interest in every individual. The facilities at Heriot-Watt for resident on-campus students are excellent and not having to worry about where I would live or how I would feed myself ensured that I could devote all my attention to my studies."...more