"Based on extensive interviews with today's . . . corporate leaders, this look at how the best CEOs do their jobs focuses on the mindsets and actions that foster an environment of excellence"--

Power Partnering is a brilliant yet refreshingly simple approach that breaks innovative thinking and acting down into four distinct contexts, allowing people to respond to complex situations in highly creative and innovative ways. In the not too distant future, successful companies will be defined by their ability to manage their knowledge assets. Power partnering is one very important strategy for success. It avoids the pitfalls inherent in traditional approaches to running businesses, particularly those that emphasize 'power over and control of' people. This book is concerned with creating environments of interaction where co-workers, customers, suppliers and customers' customers interact in meaningful and creative ways. These environments promote new ways of thinking, insightful perspectives and fresh ideas.

The pressures to compete in a global economy force businesses to work collaboratively. While the rewards for partnering can be greater in value than those which a firm could accomplish independently, many alliances fail, which suggests a lack of the necessary knowledge and skills to establish a successful partnership. Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships will help you to understand how partnerships function and how you can manage them more effectively and efficiently. Based on solid research and dealing with key topics such as supply chain management, marketing channels and relationship management, it identifies the factors that determine partnering excellence. Whatever the nature of the relationship -outsourcing, strategic alliances or co-manufacturing-there are eight distinctive relationship types identified by the authors to help managers optimize business-to-business partnerships. With case studies from prominent global organizations such as Wal-Mart, Toyota, General Motors and Dell, Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships with help you to understand the problems that affect partnering and make effective decisions to improve both the relationship and productivity. According to a recent study, most companies surveyed nowadays recognize that alliances are of very high importance to the realization of their strategic objectives. However, the dramatically high failure rates of business partnering-estimated at over 50 per cent-suggests that companies often lack the skills and knowledge to determine the best strategic fit, negotiate win-win agreements, align organizational cultures and get people to work together productively. Based on ground-breaking research Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships identifies the key factors that determine partnering excellence and will help you to optimize your business-to-business partnerships. It will help you to understand how partnerships function and how you can manage them more effectively and efficiently-whaterver the nature of the relationship. Using case studies it explores key topics including: " The strategic value of partnering " The evolution of supply chain networks, marketing channels and strategic alliances " The obstacles and drives of successful partnerships " Relationship marketing " Understanding partnership and alliance dynamics " Evaluating partnership performance Strategic Alliances and Marketing Partnerships also includes eight distinctive relationship types, defined by the authors, to help you to identify and assess the nature of you own partnerships, maximize their value and ensure their success. Contents: Introduction : Placing a value on your key commercial partnerships " The Business of Partnering: A crisis in management " Diminishing sources of competitive advantage " From product-base competition to knowledge-base advantage " Extending the boundaries of the firm " The strategic value of partnering " Partnering and competing supply chains " The problems of understanding your partners " The Evolution of Partnership-Driven Business Strategies: Introduction "The development of supply chain management " Supply chain networks " Strategic alliances " Marketing channels " Managing buy-sell relationships " Conclusion " The Obstacles and drivers of Successful Partnerships: Introduction " Leveraging mutual investments " Learning from each other " Governance " The influence of leadership and control mechanisms " Understanding partnership performance " Proactive relationship management " Summary " Relationship Marketing: a New-Old Theory of Business Relationships: Marketing foundations " Relationship marketing rediscovered " Collaborate or fail " From power management to relationship management " The relationship business " Modelling the marketing relationship " Managing partnership value " Building relationship management capabilities " Summary " Understanding Partnership and Alliance Dynamics: Introduction " A new economic view of partnerships " Partnerships as spiral dynamics " Finding the measure of partnership performance " Conclusion " Working Hard at the Soft Factors: Introduction " Evaluating partnership performance " Opportunities and challenges created through " Collaborative innovation " Opportunities and challenges created through partnership quality " Opportunities and challenges of creating value " The model of partnership performance " Summary " The Gibbs+Humphries Partnership Types: Introduction " Evangelists " Stable pragmatists " Rebellious teenagers " Evolving pessimists " Captive sharks " Cherry pickers " No can dos " Deserters " Summary " Making Partnerships and Alliances Work for you: Management implications " Determining the right partnership type " Partnership types and market development " Relationship management and the Gibbs-Humphries Partnership types " The Gibbs-Humphries partnership types and marketing " Conclusion " Further reading " Index

What are the characteristics and conditions that lead to successful educational partnerships? What can we learn from partnerships that fail, cannot be sustained over time, or cease to benefit their partners? This book serves as a guide to the successful implementation of partnerships. It provides the context and tools for readers who are responding to the increasing demands of policy makers, funders and institutional leaders to use partnerships to address local, state and federal issues, achieve external mandates, meet public or internal agendas, or pursue international collaborations. This guide provides an evidence-based framework for institutional and organizational leaders to develop the vision, shared values and norms to achieve the "partnership capital" that will sustain an enduring relationship. It offers a three-phase model of the development process of collaboration, together with a tool box for those charged with partnering and leading organizational change, and includes a template for both creating new partnerships and sustaining existing ones. The authors start by differentiating between "traditional," often ad-hoc, partnerships and "strategic partnerships" that align organizational strategy with partnership actions; and by identifying the importance of moving beyond incremental or surface "first order" change to develop deep "second order change" through which underlying structures and operations are questioned and new processes emerge due to the partnership. They offer analyses and understandings of seven key components for success: exploring motivations; developing partner relationships; communicating and framing purpose; creating collaborative structures and resources; leading various partnership stages; generating partnership capital; and implementing strategies for sustaining partnerships. Each chapter concludes with a case study to provide more understanding of the ideas presented, and for use in training or classes. This guide is addressed to policy makers and educational leaders, college administrators, and their non-profit and business partners, to enable them to lead and create strategic partnerships and facilitate organizational change.

A practical approach to business transformation Fit for Growth* is a unique approach to business transformation that explicitly connects growth strategy with cost management and organization restructuring. Drawing on 70-plus years of strategy consulting experience and in-depth research, the experts at PwC’s Strategy& lay out a winning framework that helps CEOs and senior executives transform their organizations for sustainable, profitable growth. This approach gives structure to strategy while promoting lasting change. Examples from Strategy&’s hundreds of clients illustrate successful transformation on the ground, and illuminate how senior and middle managers are able to take ownership and even thrive during difficult periods of transition. Throughout the Fit for Growth process, the focus is on maintaining consistent high-value performance while enabling fundamental change. Strategy& has helped major clients around the globe achieve significant and sustained results with its research-backed approach to restructuring and cost reduction. This book provides practical guidance for leveraging that expertise to make the choices that allow companies to: Achieve growth while reducing costs Manage transformation and transition productively Create lasting competitive advantage Deliver reliable, high-value performance Sustainable success is founded on efficiency and high performance. Companies are always looking to do more with less, but their efforts often work against them in the long run. Total business transformation requires total buy-in, and it entails a series of decisions that must not be made lightly. The Fit for Growth approach provides a clear strategy and practical framework for growth-oriented change, with expert guidance on getting it right. *Fit for Growth is a registered service mark of PwC Strategy& Inc. in the United States