Study note on strategic partnership

Study note on strategic partnership

References with extracted  contents

Christopher, M. and U. Jüttner. 2000. "Developing strategic partnerships in the supply chain: a practitioner perspective" European Journal of Purchasing & supply Management 6, Pergamon: 117-127.

"Supply chain management is concerned to achieve a more cost-effective satisfaction of end customer requirements through buyer}supplier process integration (Christopher, 1992). This integration is typically achieved through a greater transparency of customer requirement through the sharing of information. This integration is subsequently compounded through the establishment of "seamless" processes that link the identification of a physical replenishment need with a `just-in-time" response. Organisations have also been re-appraising their value chains and out-sourcing those activities which they consider to be non-core. Simultaneous with this growth in out-sourcing has been a move towards rationalisation of the supplier base. ...... As a result of these changes in the supply chain there has emerged a growing inter-dependency amongst the parties in that chain";

"Every company maintains a variety of different relationships and may not be willing or capable of developing close ties with all parties. Partnerships are resource intensive investments with not only a financial risk, but maybe more importantly, a strategic risk emerging from the increased vulnerability of the parties and their exposure to opportunistic behaviour. Therefore, relationship management is a situational approach and involves the development and maintenance of a portfolio of relationships with different natures, and not only close partnerships";

"Prior to developing a specific portfolio model, a good starting point for the company is to be precise about its own strategy and to define the role that partnerships and specifically joint strategic activities play within this corporate or business strategy. Xerox, for example, has been known for its quality-orientated strategy for many years. The development of close relationships upstream and downstream the supply chain has been part of that strategy. More recently, however, the company decided to change slightly its course towards a stronger emphasis on costs which has allegedly also had an impact upon supplier choice as materials cost has emerged as an order winning criteria, whilst quality is now seen as a "qualifier".

"Whether only two parties are involved in a bilateral structure or several parties are participating, has implications on how the relationships should be managed. The more levels the agreement spans within the chain, the greater the complexity. Trust that the other party will forgo opportunistic behaviour is a primary concern in a structure where one party deals with several competing players";

"Having defined their own strategy and position, companies should evaluate existing relationships as well as future prospects. Often, the relationship value is not measured at all or only on the basis of revenue and volume. In business-to-business contexts however, the real value of a relationship is linked to other, more disguised, criteria ..... Whilst the need for a more comprehensive, standard measurement approach is being recognised (Anderson, 1995), experience also shows that the criteria are company and industry-specific and, in addition, some of the most important criteria are difficult to quantify (Ellram, 1990)";

"....the degree of common interest builds a political dimension supplementing the economic relationship value and is particularly helpful in identifying those business partners, who in spite of their high relationship value should not be selected for partnership agreements. These relationships are characterised by substantial differences, for example in strategic objectives or corporate cultures";

Nitha Palakshappa , Sandy Bulmer , Gabriel Eweje & Philip Kitchen (2010) Integrated strategic partnerships between business and not-for-profit organisations: A case study from New Zealand, Journal of Marketing Communications, 16:4, 255-268, DOI: 10.1080/13527260903112255.

"The increasing deployment of both IMC [integrated marketing communication] and strategic partnerships is reflective of well documented marketing environmental changes. Changes in the contemporary marketplace are being driven by four key interrelated factors according to Schultz and Kitchen (2000): digitalisation; information technology; intellectual property; and communication systems. The nature of marketing, communication and business has changed in response to the ability to convert knowledge, information and materials into a digital format that can be manipulated globally through computers and other electronic systems (Schultz and Kitchen 2000). There are now far more communications options and media vehicles available which allow more interactivity in the increasingly fragmented communications environment .... The availability of database technologies provides addressability and interactivity which allows unique and individualised transactions between brands and customers";

"Collaborative relationships including strategic alliances, joint ventures and clusters are fast becoming a popular means of dealing with the current business landscape characterised by resource constraints, accelerating technological advancements and increased levels of competition. An additional prospect offered by collaboration is the opportunity to build or maintain competitive advantage. Firms embark on these relationships with a desire to access resources, skills or markets, and simultaneously minimise organisational weaknesses. Given such perceived benefits it is not surprising that a rapidly escalating number of businesses choose to form such relationships in response to the challenges of the contemporary business environment";

Hagedoorn, J., N. Roijakkers and H.V. Hranenburg. 2006. "Inter-Firm R&D Networks: the Importance of StrategicNetwork Capabilities for High-Tech Partnership Formation" British Journal of Management 17: 39-53.

"Experience with the formation of inter-firm partnerships and the further development of related partnering capabilities by companies play an important role in the current discussion on inter-firm partnership formation ..... Previous research indicates that partnering capabilities of companies can influence the likelihood that companies will continue to form inter-firm partnerships";

"If the company is successful in creating endogenous capabilities, it can gradually develop these capabilities even further in order to perform its economic functions more efficiently than many of its competitors .... This experience of a company with developing its capabilities generates a stock of accumulated knowledge of both an explicit and a tacit nature, which is somewhat difficult to access for other companies ... This accumulated knowledge base of a company also creates an absorptive capacity that enables it to learn from a variety of both internal and external sources";

"Inter-firm partnerships, the sharing of resources by separate companies, are clear examples of the exterior sources that can be used to externally acquire know-how to complement a firm’s existing knowledge. However, it is well known from the literature that inter-firm partnerships are difficult to manage because of their rather complicated nature and because it is practically impossible to specify the concrete results of many joint efforts in advance";

"Through these increasing interactions with their partners, companies are expected to develop general-purpose partnering capabilities (Lyles, 1988; Oster, 1999). Knowledge of how to manage inter-firm partnerships will help them establish new partnerships with other companies ... and improve the likelihood of success of these future relations ..... This capability to form and manage partnerships is relevant in all industries but particularly in high-tech industries. High-tech industries are characterized by rapid technological change that has a major effect on the management of innovation, not only within companies but also within partnerships";

"The more companies develop partnering capabilities, the more these are expected to be useful in quickly responding to promising new technological opportunities through various partnerships. So far most of the literature on partnership formation has mainly focused on these general partnering capabilities, expressing the role of general experience with partnering through the number of partnerships in which a company is involved. However, it is important to stress that it might be even more important for a firm to develop specific partnering capabilities and create specialized knowledge about whom to partner with";