Strategic Alliances

How We Help Companies Launch Strategic Alliances

Like other collaboration models—joint ventures, M&A deals, simple contractual arrangements, and participation in digital ecosystems—strategic business alliances have unique advantages.

Strategic alliances also come with some disadvantages, including greater counter-party risks and less control over the partnership.

We help companies determine whether a strategic alliance is right for them. If it is, we support clients through every phase of the strategic alliance lifecycle—from crafting a smart alliance strategy to establishing an office dedicated to their strategic alliance structure and setup.

Our Client Work in Strategic Alliances

We bring unique strengths to clients considering a strategic alliance and seeking to set up and manage such collaborations.

The Six Stages of the Strategic Alliance Life Cycle

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Alliance Strategy

Crystallize business aspirations, strategic choices, and preferences.
Identify areas that need, or can benefit from, a strategic alliance.
Define the strategic objective and rationale for the alliance.

Partner Screening

Define your desired partner attributes and determine partner search space, including alliance objectives, desired capabilities, and competitive and size constraints.
Prioritize and short-list partner candidates based on the attractiveness of capabilities, size, and competitive position.
Define a partnership thesis for short-listed candidates, assessing value creation, capabilities, corporation models, and potential risks.
Prioritize candidates and plan a timeline for outreach and due diligence.

Partner Due Diligence

Conduct due diligence along two main dimensions: value creation potential and collaboration fit.
Conduct initial, outside-in due diligence using public information.
Initiate partner outreach.
Conduct presigning due diligence with partner’s data and clean teams.

Negotiation

Define sources of value creation and fields of cooperation.
Define alliance objectives by time horizon, including quick wins, medium term goals, and ultimate goals.
Define how the created value will be shared.
Define exit conditions.
Define resources allocated to the alliance.

Alliance Design and Setup

Design governance model, structure, and mechanisms, including organizational model and workstreams, coordination and decision-making mechanisms, and monitoring and control mechanisms.
Define the rules of engagement, including scope of exclusivity, openness to new members, and rules of information exchange.
Delineate where to compete and where to collaborate.
Design legal company structure, if any.

Alliance Office Creation

Define the mandate of the alliance office, with distinct roles and responsibilities from both business units.
Design alliance office organization, including centrally shared services and a business unit dedicated to the alliance function.
Execute on agreed-upon exit conditions at the end of the alliance.