The Partnering Imperative: Making Business Partnerships Work

For the large equipment vendors who have to partner to "avoid the negative" of not working with small nibble companies who can fill in gaps in functionality, there is tremendous value in this book as a guide for avoiding the pitfalls of partnership between large and small entities. These are the situations where the larger partner often tries to manage away the risks presented by the differences between it, the larger partner, and its chaotic but essential smaller partner. In these partnerships, the larger organization is busy managing formal communications processes and preparing to walk away at the slightest hint of failure. If big and small companies can be aware of these tendencies from the start, they are more likely to stick it out and reach partnering pay-off.

For smaller companies who need to partner to gain access to distribution channels and installed bases of customers, The Partnering Imperative provides a pragmatic guide to dancing with the "elephants" that small companies must work with. Smaller companies who expect their larger partners to revisit agendas to address emerging needs, will be be more successful if they address "big partner" concerns like avoiding surprises and differences through formal communications process with lots of checks and balances.