-: Companies over the world are racing
to adapt to a changing environment.
Technologies are changing rapidly.
New competitors are arising every day as a surprise.
New market opportunities are arising as well.
Therefore, companies have to make sure
that they are at the forefront on multiple dimensions.
And to do that, they need, actually, partnership models.
This is exactly where strategic alliances come
into the game.
With strategic alliances, you can acquire new capabilities.
You can increase your scale
in manufacturing or distribution,
and, therefore, this is a big opportunity
to adapt to innovation.
When you look into the number of strategic alliances,
we see a steep growth over the last couple of years.
Five years ago, we would have few dozens
of new strategic alliances formed every year,
whereas in 2020, that number was more than 9,000.
Innovation has been the core topic
behind the growing number of strategic alliances.
Topics such as mobility, blockchain, AI,
big data have been the core reason
for the formation of new strategic alliances.
Strategic alliances have a number of advantages
over other forms of collaboration.
First, speed.
To adapt to change,
we have to act in a very agile and quick way,
and to form a strategic alliance can be done very quickly.
Also, to dissolve the strategic alliance
can be done quickly.
Therefore, when companies want to react to change
in a quick way, they prefer strategic alliances.
Or when they want to pursue a risky project,
they prefer strategic alliances
to test, actually, if this can be successful.
The second one is commitment.
In a strategic alliance,
you don't require as much investment or commitment
as you would require in a joint venture, let's say.
Therefore, when companies actually want to maybe test
in the long run a joint venture or a merger,
sometimes they prefer a strategic alliance upfront
to test the relationship itself.
And the last but not least important topic is flexibility.
A strategic alliance is, in its nature, very flexible.
Therefore, in a changing technology environment
or innovation environment,
you sometimes need to adapt the scope of the partnership,
and a strategic alliance is the best example to do that.
There are actually multiple success factors
to make a strategic alliance a big success,
but let's start with the strategy.
First, companies have to know
which strategy they are pursuing
and how partnership models
can help them achieve those goals.
So you have to think about partnership models
like a portfolio game.
What is the portfolio of partnerships I need to pursue
to achieve my target?
It's equally important to choose the right partner.
To choose the right partner doesn't only mean
to find the right partner
that complements your corporate capabilities;
it also means that you have to have a fitting partner
where you really have aligned goals.
It also means that you have to manage the relationship
in the right way.
It's very much often driven
by a good relationship management
to make a strategic alliance work.
And throughout that entire journey,
you have to be very flexible in the relationship
that you're managing with your partner
as you have to be in respect of the corporate culture,
how the dynamics in all organizations work,
and you have to be flexible in the way you work together.
Because sometimes you need to adapt to scope,
and both parties need to be flexible around it.
At the end, you have to keep in mind,
it's not about getting a good deal
to form a strategic alliance;
it's around, "How can I maximize the value
and how can I create maximum value
for all the parties involved?"