No longer are companies competing in their city or state or region. Competition and the marketplace have gone global and success now depends on being able to offer world-class products and services, which often means teaming with vendors and competitors. Alliances offer a way to procure or harness world-class resources without having to develop additional capabilities internally. Most leaders agree that partnerships, alliances, joint ventures, etc. can more efficiently provide growth opportunity in terms of building distribution, increasing capabilities, reducing cost and tapping new markets. The joint venture has created a huge new customer base and provided global growth opportunity for Texaco and Chevron, without taking away from their original lines of business and means of delivery.
Many companies looking to ignite growth rapidly turn to mergers and acquisitions.
As some of our clients have found, there are big benefits to rapid expansion, including accelerating product development, injecting new core competencies and expanding distribution and global presence. However, there is also a challenge to creating and maintaining the organizational alignment that is necessary for profitable growth when trying to merge the people, processes, culture and technologies of different groups. There's a lot to do to align your company for growth. Our experience suggests that organizations try to do too much at once. As always, we would like to have your input on our Hot Topics and FAQs.