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| Steps to Building and Making an Alliance Work |
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1. Define your own internal development and/or growth strategy |
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| Know what you are
Know where you are now
Define where you want to be
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Define what your organization can reasonably achieve and/or do |
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Define the time frame to achieve your goals |
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| 2. Identify your alternatives | |
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Identify all of the potential alternatives that you could pursue to achieve your goal |
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Evaluate those alternatives, and choose the one that has the greatest probability of success within your organization |
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3. If an alliance is the approach you are going to take, identify as many possible partners as possible |
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| Look for opportunities
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Look for company, product, project and/or technology synergies or enhancements |
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4. Identify the best candidates, and then do the appropriate due diligence |
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| Find out as much as you can
Know your potential partners
Look for compatibility |
| 5. Define alliance terms | Operational
Commercial
Economic
Communication |
| 6. Clearly define the project | Who will do what when, where, and how
Define the milestones to monitor progress
Define decision criteria
Define how the project will be managed |
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7. Provide avenues for closure, escape, and/or continuance |
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Define when the project is complete and how that will be determined |
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Provide an avenue for divergence and/or separation of the parties, if necessary |
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Insure that there is an opportunity to continue if it makes sense |
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8. Insure commitment and be ready to work |
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| Both parties must commit
Both parties must invest time, resources, and a desire to make the alliance work |