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Understand who and what your company is, what it wants, what its goals and expectations are, where it wants to go, and how long is it willing to wait to get there. It is absolutely essential to understand clearly what you see as the goals or objectives for proposing the option of forming an alliance. There may be commercial expectations, such as expanding an existing franchise, building one, or opening up a new geographic market (i.e., market expansion), or your corporate goals may be R&D focused, such as gaining new technology, expanding your R&D pipeline, entering a new therapeutic area, sharing development risk and cost, expanding expertise/know-how, or gaining more capacity to expedite development schedules. |
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In some cases, there may be senior managers who have their perception of reality based on their own individual assessment of the internal and external environments, regardless of accuracy or validity. If these individuals are open to discussion and input and are willing to perhaps change their positions through presentation of other views and/or information, then, there is a greater chance that a realistic view of the situation can be accepted. However, there is also a chance that their views may be confirmed, and this should also be readily accepted by all parties. In either case, it must be understood that a senior manager's or key stakeholder's perception of the situation may become reality. |
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Corporate goals or objectives must be clearly described and understood. Once the internal corporate goal(s) are clearly defined, then, various strategic options can be identified and evaluated in an attempt to select the one that will provide you with the greatest probability of achieving your goal. |
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It is important to define your options because there are many possible strategies that could be followed to achieve the defined corporate goal. An alliance or partnership, at any level, is only one approach. Although there may be some overlap in the reasons why a company chooses to pursue a merger or acquisition over building an alliance or partnership, strategic alliances, ventures, or partnerships are generally formed for long-term strategic reasons. It is fairly unlikely that an alliance or partnership will be a viable approach for a quick fix to any short-term problem. An alliance is a long-term affair. The organizational impact and financial gains, if any, will not be seen in the next quarterly financial report, but rather they will only be realized, in most cases, over a 515 year horizon, depending on the project involved. |
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Another issue to consider is an alliance may not decrease costs or reduce time. It is, generally, accepted that partnerships can provide advantages, |
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