"Our industry is littered with strategic partnerships gone south . . . Generally strategic partnerships don't work out unless one partner is acquired."
Denise Sangster
Channel Analyst and CEO Global Touch
Quote suggested by Kerry Moyer, CEA Senior Director
This refers to one company joining with another but the concept holds all the way down to one-to-one personal relations.
Short of one side attempting to bludgeon the other into doing what they want (which rarely works and then only for a short time), successful partnerships are based on win/win.
Agree/disagree?
Quote suggested by Kerry Moyer, CEA Senior Director
Denise is right but I would qualify her last statement by adding, and even then they often don't work (when one partner is acquired by another.)
This refers to one company joining with another but the concept holds all the way down to one-to-one personal relations.
Short of one side attempting to bludgeon the other into doing what they want (which rarely works and then only for a short time), successful partnerships are based on win/win.
Agree/disagree?
Appropriate picture. Notice that the puzzle pieces do not appear as though they will fit . . . much as is true with most merger/acquisitions.
ReplyDeleteI think there is too much emphasis on the possible benefit of a merger or acquisition with too little thought about what must be done to make it work. And as you said, you can't just insist that it will work, you must plan to see that it does.
ReplyDeleteMy experience has shown me that partnerships rarely work, because "partners" are typically unwilling to set aside their own interests. This proved especially true in promotional partnerships. Far from win/win, many times it seemed as if it was merely one partner defraying the promo costs of the other.
ReplyDeleteAs far as merger vs. acquisition goes, my experience favors a straight out acquisition. "Digesting" the other party, its people and its culture becomes even more difficult in a merger (there is no merger of equals).