Collaborative Competition: Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions in the Global Market

Author: Brick
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-02-01
Features: It is only after some companies have engaged in long-term, evenly matched struggles, exhausted their financial and intellectual resources, and found it difficult to cope with 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. But before that, they have already paid a heavy price. Today, people can start to understand the value of collaboration and leverage powerful, flexible alliances by reading the book "Collaborative Competition." This book is a guide to strategy and business, written by the main international management consultants of McKinsey & Company based on hundreds of case studies of successful alliances from around the world, providing practical information on how to effectively design cross-border alliances. The author of the book believes that successful companies are currently transferring skills across borders by retaining key managers of acquired companies and utilizing other strategic advantages that can be gained from mergers. The author also believes that the foundation of effective collaboration is 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 find that even acquisitions that were once purely self-interested behaviors now carry more collaborative elements when reading about the activities of major companies in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. The book further uses McKinsey & Company's experience in three major regions to explain why cross-border strategic approaches need to consider the unique barriers of specific countries and regions in terms of regulations, structure, and culture. The book also seriously explores the dramatic restructuring 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.