Collaborative Competition – Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions in the Global Market: Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions in the Global Market

Author: Brick
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-02-01
Features: It is often only after some companies have engaged in prolonged, evenly matched struggles, depleting their financial and intellectual resources, and finding it difficult to handle the next round of competition and innovation, that they realize the value of cross-border collaboration. Reluctantly, they begin to recognize the benefits of sharing, dividing, and exchanging control, costs, skills, information, technology, and market opportunities. However, by then, they have already paid a heavy price. Today, people can start understanding the value of collaboration and leveraging strong, flexible alliances by reading "Collaborative Competition." This book is a guide to strategy and business, written by key international management consultants from McKinsey & Company based on hundreds of case studies of successful alliances across the world, providing practical insights into how to effectively design cross-border alliances.
The authors of the book believe that successful companies are currently transferring skills across borders by retaining key management personnel from acquired companies and employing other strategic approaches that yield the greatest benefits from mergers. The authors also argue that the foundation of effective collaboration lies in a series of long-term actions, and alliances driven by hasty and short-sighted goals will fail. The book highlights several key steps in building strong alliances, and readers will discover, while reading about the activities of major companies in the U.S., Japan, and Europe, that even acquisitions that were once purely self-interested have now taken on more collaborative hues.
Leveraging McKinsey & Company's experience in three major regions, the book further explains why cross-border strategic approaches need to consider the unique barriers of specific countries and regions in terms of regulations, structures, and culture. The book also thoroughly explores the dramatic structural adjustments in Europe and Asia, pointing out how European companies should use cross-border acquisitions and alliances to address new threats from global and pan-European competitors.