Building partnerships and networks
In an era of mergers between large companies, cooperative arrangements between small and medium enterprises in a market that demands comprehensive solutions have increasingly become a matter of survival. The forms of business cooperation range from bilateral partnerships to corporate networks and clusters.
Although the benefits of cooperation are immediately apparent, seemingly insurmountable problems often arise in practice. Cooperation means a willingness of all partners to enter into a joint development process, during which confidence and commitment can grow. This involves working together to define collaborative projects that are of mutual benefit and lead to a common goal and to agree on concrete implementation measures.
Typical areas for exploration are:
Although the benefits of cooperation are immediately apparent, seemingly insurmountable problems often arise in practice. Cooperation means a willingness of all partners to enter into a joint development process, during which confidence and commitment can grow. This involves working together to define collaborative projects that are of mutual benefit and lead to a common goal and to agree on concrete implementation measures.
Typical areas for exploration are:
- Setting up and supporting inter-company cooperation: Impuls workshops on developing cooperation
- Development of corporate networks and clusters: Exploratory talks, testing for potential, activation of the potential, development of networks, support for implementation phase, institutionalization, taking networks and partnerships to the next level
- Evaluation of services offered by networks
- Benchmarking - Best-practice comparisons - "Health checks"
- Reflection and renewal of existing collaborative ventures; development of strategic partnerships
