Business Alliances Guide – The Hidden Competitive Weapon

For those who think strategic alliances don't work--or just don't work for them.

Perhaps you've tried to develop alliances but for some reason they didn't pan out. Or maybe you've been intrigued by alliances but finally were put off by the dangers they seem to bring.

Whether you're discouraged or simply uneasy, Robert Porter Lynch's Business Alliances Guide will convince you that collaborations are not just for multinationals like IBM and AT&T, who now recognize their value, and not just for the Japanese, who excel at putting them together--but for you as well.

Tapping the best strategic minds in the world and drawing on a wealth of successful international ventures, this singular guide reveals the secrets of alliance success, alerts you to the traps to avoid, and shows how you can use alliances to attain long-term strategic goals while minimizing risks. It presents a unique model--the Alliance Development Pyramid--that clearly outlines the steps to take to develop and maintain alliances that establish a profitable win/win situation between you and your partners. Following the model, you'll learn how to:

• Gain critical top-level support for the alliance
• Find partners whose goals, strengths, and weaknesses complement your own
• Develop the right "chemistry" with alliance partners
• Build flexibility into the alliance structure to allow for change
• Manage conflict with partners and avoid litigation
• Consider cultural and political differences to make inroads internationally
• Structure different kinds of alliances to attain different objectives

Along the way, the guide dispenses with the myths that may have prevented you from engaging in the alliances in the first place. You'll see that alliances enable both partners to maintain--not lose--control...encourage--not inhibit--innovation...act as a new competitive tool, not as a drag on competition...signal a new kind of corporate dynamism and not retreat.

Supported by a network of bulleted summaries, checklists, charts, models, and graphs, plus boxed-off tips and warnings that guide you toward the development of effective alliances, Business Alliances Guide provides you with a major new weapon that makes you a much more formidable player in today's global marketplace.