Business partnering

Business partnering is "the development of successful, long term, strategic relationships between customers and suppliers, based on achieving best practice and sustainable competitive advantage"(Lendrum, 1997).

Mission

The mission of Business partnering and the key-aspects of the discipline has been developed recently in the tourism field. The mission of Business partnering (for tourism) consists in "creating, organizing, developing and enforcing "operative" (short-term), "tactical" (medium-term) and "strategic" (long-term) partnerships" (Droli, 2007).

Examples

Joint selling is an example of operative partnering activity. Account intelligence sharing reselling or "value chain integration" (Child, Faulkner, 1998) are examples of tactical partnering initiatives. Joint product development is a typical strategic partnering activity. Partnering agreements are commonly used in the different kind of partnerships.

One example of Strategic Partnering Arrangement in the aviation sector is the one which put together the UK Ministry of Defence and AgustaWestland. Both Partners share an agreed common objective to improve helicopter services and support to the Front Line. The MOD also wishes to provide the best value for money to the taxpayer while AgustaWestland seeks to provide the best returns to its shareholders via a stable, long-term income stream.

Benefits

Reduction of general costs. Business partnering can be cheaper and more flexible than a merger or acquisition, and can be employed when a merger or acquisition is not feasible.

Business partnering increases the "competitive advantage" (Porter, 1985). The direct benefits of Business partnering consists in a greater competitive advantage through the co-operation (the co-opetitive advantage) and even better opportunitiers of revenues, occupation and investment in the sector of application.

Business partnering creates a no more traditionally-based solidarity or "organic", but a rationale form of "mechanic solidarity" (Durkheim, 1893). Partnering takes a new approach to achieving business objectives. It replaces the traditional customer-supplier model with a collaborative approach to achieving a shared objective; this may be to build a hospital, improve an existing service contract or launch an entirely new programme of work. Essentially, the Partners work together to achieve an agreed common aim whilst each participant may still retain different reasons for achieving that common aim.

Sources

Partnering requires all Partners to transform their businesses in terms of relationships, behaviours, processes, communications and leadership. Neither participant can succeed without the other so the recommended approach is to implement the transformation as a joint activity wherever possible.

Partnering has existed for centuries. The opportunities of partnering for human growth were pointed out by The Bible "The brother who helps his brother is like a fortress" (Pro 18, 19). In economics, Business partnering has gained significant momentum and focus within leading global businesses, as "a medium for achieving significant revenue growth" (Doz, Hamel, 1998)

References

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* Doz Y. L., Hamel G., "Alliance Advantage. The art of Creating Value through Partnering",Harward Business School Press, Boston, 1998, ISBN 0875846165.
* Droli M. "Partnering turistico. L'Impostazione, la Creazione, l'Organizzazione ed il Rinforzo Continuo di una Partnership Strategica di Successo", Forum, Università degli Studi di Udine, Udine, 2007, ISBN 9788884204059.
* Durkheim, "The Division of Labor in Society", (1893) The Free Press reprint 1997, ISBN 0684836386
* Lendrum T., "The Strategic Partnering Handbook, A Practice Guide for Managers", McGraw-Hill, Nook Company, 1997, ISBN 0074708791.
* Porter M., "Competitive advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance", NY, Free Press, 1985, ISBN 0029250900.
* Williamson, O., "Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications", Free Press, NY, 1975.
* Darby, Mark (2006). Alliance Brand: Fulfilling the Promise of Partnering. Wiley. ISBN 9780470032183.