I’m sure you’re thinking: “Is he serious? Is he really going to talk about chocolate as in an alliances blog?” I am. Chocolate may very well be the secret ingredient to excellent innovation sessions and partnership development meetings. Bear with me. There’s actual data behind this idea.

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When forming an alliance, there comes a time when all the talks of visions and opportunities for developing a business together come to an end and partners begin to truly build the business. They can now move from the formalities to innovating and creating together. This is where the magic happens.

We typically hold innovation sessions over two full working days involving everyone – operations, technology, finance, marketing, sales – who will help build ideas, kick the tires of what can be actually implemented and get down to concrete potential projects and products that establish the working model for the alliance.

The first half of the first innovation and co-creation session involves envisioning the potential of what could be. Here, we “set the container of possibility” for the group through presentations given by key members of each team that provide knowledge of the key strategic pieces of the business.

The second session is designed to be what is called a “World Café” session. Read more …

It’s amazing what companies can achieve together with a little creative thinking. I recently purchased the 111 Navy Chair from Design Within Reach. It’s an amazing and aesthetically beautiful product created from a partnership between Coca-Cola and Emeco, a company that has been making aluminum chairs since the 1940s and is famous for its Navy Chair – a chair it designed for the U.S. Navy. You may be wondering what brought together a bottling company and a chair manufacturer. That’s precisely what I love about this partnership.

According to Emeco, Coca-Cola approached it in 2006 with a proposal. The soft drink giant was looking for ways to show the value of recycled plastic so it asked Emeco to make its classic Navy Chair out of recycled soft drink bottles. Imagine that. Coke bottles turned into chairs.

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On this blog, I have discussed the benefits of seeking out the underdog, the partner that is going to give it all to drive your company and theirs to succeed, the partner that is willing to collaborate and innovate rather than push an agenda. But that partner must also be the right fit for your company and what you’re trying to accomplish. As in any relationship, finding the right partner plays a key role in the relationship’s success. The question is: how do you find that perfect fit?

Following are five steps that I have found helpful when assessing a potential alliances partner:

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Big dogs want to control meetings and expect everyone to say “yes”.

Underdogs aren’t afraid to ask questions.

Big dogs hide behind NDAs.

Underdogs are open to telling you what they’re doing.

Big dogs demand that you get things done for them.

Underdogs share the work, along with their thoughts and feelings. Big dogs expect you to do all the heavy lifting.

….Underdogs dig deeper and get things done.

We can all learn a thing or two about Facebook’s recent new business development approach. By now everyone has seen, and most even complained about, the new Facebook format. In a recent Wall Street Journal article Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg lent a bit of insight to the strategic partnership approach shaping the future for the social media giant.

Although Facebook is the Goliath in the current market it is smart enough to realize that even giants can’t do everything alone. In order to be able to compete effectively to crush the competition Zuckerberg realizes there is strength in numbers. The recent unveiling of partnerships with media companies such as Spotify, the Washington Post, and Netflix give the Facebook battalion the power it needs to beat the competition, such a Google+ and Apple’s iTunes.

Zuckerberg and very likely the smart people that surround him, all know that if they doesn’t implement an “open graph,” system that allows outside applications, created by a variety of media companies and start-ups, to be used within the Facebook platform someone else will. Will you be a “Zuckerberg” creating alliances to be reckoned with, or will you let your ego stand in the way of success?

See WSJ article here

Suzuki and VW were not able to handle a partnership. Can you believe this one? Honestly, didn’t Suzuki and VW see all this coming way ahead of time? My guess is that higher level executives signed the deal, but they forgot the main ingredients: drawing out their partnerships values, principles and governance processes, specially on rights of first refusals, working with the media, etc. and most importantly, getting their implementation teams on the same boat!

When you see a partnership’s dirty laundry in front of the media, you know they didn’t prepare and go through the process of mapping out their relationship beforehand.

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The merger between Japan’s Sony Corp, Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd. could seem like a sweet deal with the government backed INCJ who’s investing 1.2 billion. But the move seems more like a desperate measure to divest themselves of loss leaders in the business, strap the government with the bill and the risk to build a business worthy to compete globally.

Mergers of this type, while they may look good on paper, have a hard road ahead. As in all business alliances, after the dust settles and the deals are struck, all that’s left are the people that have to make it happen. In this case, the implementation is left to be seen in what I would call a pretty precarious exercise.