An estimated 20,000 corporate alliances have been formed worldwide over the past two years. Such strategic alliances can provide business owners with long-term security, new revenue channels, and, often, the anchor needed to maintain stability in otherwise turbulent waters.

A successful joint venture can open the door to a world of future partnership opportunities, says renowned entrepreneur Robert Wallace. In Strategic Partnerships: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Joint Ventures andAlliances, he outlines a framework business owners can use to conceive, develop, and execute such relationships between themselves and larger organizations. Based on the author’s 20 years of field research, readers will learn how to:
* Evaluate the suitability of a potential joint venture partner.
* Establish relationship boundaries to define how partnering companies can work together through processes and complications.
* Keep relationships fun, exciting, and profitable.
* Properly and legally bring joint venture arrangements to a close.

Most chapters conclude with a case study of a business illustrating the chapter topic, along with an interview with an executive from a major corporation. The stories and interviews give readers real-life takeaways that they can relate and apply to their own situations, providing them with a specific tool to move forward in their development.

Robert Wallace is a longtime entrepreneur sought after for his expertise in engineering, telecommunications, systems development, business development, intrapreneurship, and entrepreneurship. He is the founder and chairman of a minority-owned IT consulting firm, and of a Web portal fostering the development of minority and women entrepreneurs. In 2000, Wallace was selected as the only small business member of the GE Center for Financial Learning Advisory Board.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 The what of joint venturing
Case study : getting a new perspective on the challenge
2 The why of joint venturing
Case study : crossing the aisle to successful joint venturing
Case study : encouraging supplier alliances at Procter & Gamble
3 The strategic partnership model : a roadmap for a successful joint venture
Case study : building suppliers while building autos at Ford Motor Company
4 Trust : it must be a two-way street
Case study : driving new alliances at Microsoft
5 Don’t lose your mogo
Case study : corporate experience helps entrepreneurs master the alliance equation
6 Is your organization ready?
Case study : two perspectives on alliances from Freddie Mac
7 Knowing your partner
Case study : observations on alliance success factors from NMSDC’s leader
8 Making it work
Case study : forging early and lasting alliances at Toyota
9 Legal aspects and exit strategics
Case study : spreading the strategic alliance message at Verizon
10 When losing is winning
Case study : Eastman Kodak Company’s focus on venture relationships with start-up companies

App Sample joint venturing related business agreements