The arrival of new competitors forces companies to adapt, and one of the ways to adapt to these changing markets is through strategic business alliances .
Understood as a long-lasting business friendship, strategic business alliances or Joint Ventures are commercial agreements to achieve a particular and common objective, such as acquiring new clinics email list clients by the company, increasing strengths and reducing weaknesses, accessing new markets and technologies or sharing the risks of making certain decisions; in which each of the parties makes a contribution for the common benefit.
Business alliances are a good option for small or medium-sized companies that want to expand their online business abroad , opening markets in countries where, after carrying out an international business plan and assessing whether they are prepared for it, they determine that they have a good opportunity to grow their business .
For these companies that have already chosen to expand, an excellent option is to do so with other companies with the same characteristics, with the same type of target audience, that are more or less the same age, with which they can work towards a common goal, sharing resources, information, capabilities and risks to achieve it.
But not everything is as simple as signing a commercial alliance agreement. Each case must be assessed to determine whether it is the most convenient for the company, because it will not be the best solution in all cases.
Table of Contents
Let's analyze the advantages and disadvantages of international strategic alliances
Keys to success in an online strategic alliance:
1. Definition of common objectives of the online alliance
2. Definition of the roles of each ally
3. Conduct a test with a temporary online strategic alliance
Let's analyze the advantages and disadvantages of international strategic alliances
The main advantage of international business alliances is that you can reach an unknown country with the help of a local company that knows the market perfectly, allowing you to speed up the expansion process with greater effectiveness, speed and security.
Among the many other advantages of international strategic alliances are:
Technology transfer between companies to improve competitive advantages.
Access to new markets and distribution channels that increase sales.
Improve communication skills with clients in the language and way of speaking of each country.
Greater capacity for capital investment to develop markets and technologies in the destination country.
Learn from the allied company by sharing information, processes, experience, clients and organizational aspects (know-how) of the country.
Create barriers to entry for new competitors into a market dominated by the strategic alliance.
Advertise together.
On the other hand, it is necessary to be clear about the disadvantages so as not to fall into the error of believing that forming an alliance will always be a correct and successful decision.
It is very easy for one of the parties in the strategic alliance to lose control of some functions or processes , or for an environment of distrust to be created due to the use of shared information.
Furthermore, the communication skills of both parties play a very important role, not only because of the language, but also because of different habits and cultures that can lead to a conflict of interests.
During the alliance, there may be changes in direction or attitude that can undermine the trust of both parties, resulting in suspicion of key information that should be shared.
The key to the success of strategic alliances is therefore the trust of the allies and the fight for a private and common objective, leaving everything well detailed at the beginning so that no mistrust or suspicions are created that could damage the good work of this alliance; in addition to detailing what the respective contributions consist of and surrounding oneself with a team of lawyers who leave everything legally agreed upon at the time of the creation of the alliance.
Success in an online strategic alliance
Keys to success in an online strategic alliance:
1. Definition of common objectives of the online alliance
Be clear in advance about what will be gained from this alliance, the goals to be achieved , whether it be acquiring new clients, making yourself known in new markets, etc.; to define the KPIs that will allow you to measure the success of this project .
2. Definition of the roles of each ally
In an online strategy, it is necessary to define what role each associated company will play: who will manage the project, how decisions will be made and how disagreements that will arise throughout the agreement will be resolved.
