Strategic-alliance

It is always annoying to read books that tell nothing but common knowledge. The authors recycle ideas from any five books that one can find from library, then put them in an order that is not necessarily logical anyway. For example, after claiming how great this "networlding" idea is, the book suggest you start with "friends, family, cusotmers, colleagues, vendors" with probably average 5 lines of explanation under each. Sounds intriguing, eh? The book suggests some important quality for one to be succcessful in "networlding": "supportive, continuous communicating, good listener, responsible, influential, knowledgeable, empathic, appreciative..." and again providing five line explanation. How original is this? I guess if I look up any dictionary, I can find another couple thousand words that I can argue that if you don't have them, you are not going to be successful, in anything, networlding or not!

What is the most annoying about this book is that it tries to differentiate so called "networlding" with the networking people know. If the concept of networlding had been so different, then it would have been acceptable. Instead, the book assumes that every "networker" just constantly passes out business cards. It is almost offensive to any networkers with reasonable skills. For example, one of the most important messages in the book is that "networlders" discreminate their network by value. First, any people into network knows about this. Second, the examples provided in the book to prove this are nothing new - so and so and so and so are good friends, then suddenly one day one finds a job for another. Logically, such examples don't even support the arguments.

Unfortunately, there are tons of books out there that do not offer anything other than common knowledge that no one can object. Good books, however, offer original ideas or constructive suggestions. This is not a good book. This is a book that the authors simply assume the readers are stupid. Do not waste your time on it.

From "The Networlding Support Exchange Model" that shows readers how people actually do build successful relationships to the step-by-step process for connecting with a network of like-valued influential people (and the authors handhold you as to how to do this), I found I could take the ideas and implement them immediately. In fact, I already have connected with a couple of influential thought leaders online. It was much easier than I thought possible.

The authors also share extensive academic research done on human networks, putting into simple words, how we can use this knowledge of how people actually build successful relationships to grow our own powerful and fulfilling networks.

I personally have never seen a book like this. It is chock full of stories and strategies the authors themselves have used personally to grow their networks. In fact, the story of how they came together is a Networlding story in itself! It's wonderful to have a tool that will help me get ahead without stepping on others along the way. To the contrary, Giovagnoli and Miller show you how to get to the top and take great people with you along the way so you have lots of friends when you get there! What a great journey!

How do you accomplish this? The book suggests a seven step process - cycle that repeat itself. It all starts with finding out what means the most to you - your foundation. You will then learn to populate your primary, secondary and possibly tetriary circle depending on the nature of your current relationships. How do you create a mutual exchange, and nurture your relationships is the next question. Before it is time to re-create your networld, the book will discuss how to co-create opportunities.

I liked the book! I have not yet implemented its strategies, but it immediately made me think about relationships in a new way, to be more concerned with maintaining the right relationsships and finding the give-take balance. If I ask for information, I try to give something back. This is an area of my life that will continue to be important, and I'm convinced that I will apply the parts from the book that I find useful. I'm sure that there is at least a few tips that you will find useful in this book!

At first glance "chaos" in the title may be a little misleading. But, the advice that Grubb and Lamb dispense is not. The "Traditional Wisdom Traps" in Appendix G alone is worth the price of the book!

Great stories about how creative collaboration can lead to radical innovation in any business, political breakthroughs in the Middle East, transforming your local school system.

Our elected representatives in Washington could learn alot from the simple, powerful how to principles and techniques offered here!

Moore tells us that we need to consider our business as being part of an "ecosystem". Whereas the value chain would encompass suppliers and distributors, the ecosystem is much broader. Members of the ecosystem may sell complimentary products, after sales services, or other products and services that are vital to the overall customer experience. Even when considering the members of the value chain, Moore tells us to think in terms of the ecosystem, and look for ways of making the connections deeper, stronger, and more to our advantage. Among other examples, Moore shows us how Wal-Mart, by forging relationships with suppliers that are much closer than the classic manufacturer-retailer relationship, has positioned itself at the center of an ecosystem that is stable and strong. In another section, he compares the way that Intel fostered an ecosystem around the Pentium line of microprocessors, and how the diversity and strength of this ecosystem kept other "ecosystems" such as Apple and Next, from encroaching. He also showed how Apple made it more difficult for other members of its ecosystem to co-evolve, making the entire Apple centered ecosystem weaker.

The central theme of the book is that business ecosystems, like biological ecosystems, evolve. Each of these evolutionary stages brings both opportunities and threats, and the businesses within ecosystems need to understand both the status of the ecosystem they are in, and their role in it, or they risk extinction.

First, Moore compares ecosystems in Hawaii and Costa Rica, showing how an isolated and protected ecosystem, such as Hawaii, can give rise to a rich and diverse ecosystem, but one that is fragile and easily overwhelmed by invading species. By comparison, the ecosystem of the Costa Rican jungle, on the bridge between North and South America, gives rise to species that have had to protect their niches from invaders on a regular basis, the result is a hardier, more robust ecosystem.

Having established the metaphor, Moore takes us through the four stages of ecosystem evolution: pioneering, growth, maturation, and renewal or death. First, he traces the history of the automotive industry ecosystems through all four stages, then he presents an in depth case study for each stage. The case studies are rich, diverse, and fascinating, ranging from the creation of a telephone system in Mogadishu to the prospects for health care in the U.S. Throughout the case studies Moore shows how decisions are made, and the effects of those decisions. In some of the most interesting analyses of the book, Moore examines the 7 "dimensions" of the ecosystem (customers, market, offers, processes, organizations, stakeholders, and values and policy) and shows how each of the dimensions evolve as the ecosystem evolves. He also shows us how to tell which stage of ecosystem evolution we are in, and what the critical success factors for each stage.

One of the most interesting, and surprising aspects of the book was Moore's emphasis on social responsibility, particularly for leading companies. An example of this emphasis is seen in the chapter on Wal-Mart. Moore notes that in many communities, Wal-Mart has completely displaced other retailers, and has done so in such an effective manner that there is no room for alternatives to enter the space. This strategy of "space packing" behind secure boundaries, has allowed Wal-Mart to grow into a huge organization and stable ecosystem. At the same time, Moore notes that this strategy leaves communities vulnerable to Wal-Mart, and hence opens Wal-Mart to a greater level of scrutiny than most other businesses. "In short, Wal-Mart is not just another business within its environment, and it should not expect to be treated as one. Perhaps the largest managerial challenge facing Wal-Mart today is how to invest in the relationship building, the public campaigning, and the substantive policy studies to assume its role as a leader of communities." Wow! Not just a business, but a leader of communities.

Moore carries this idea further in the final chapter, as he asks us first to think about our personal "ecosystems", and then to put the business ecosystem into a wider context. Moore states "As you invest in your own personal learning system and begin to experience problems more holistically,... a shift occurs in your perspective." First, he asks us to consider how "business is totally dependent on society", and how the "changing tides in a society" create the environment in which business operates. Next, he asks us to consider economic systems as subsystems of biological systems. After all, if all economic systems were eliminated, biological systems would still exist, but if the biological system were eliminated, the economic systems would not last very long. The upshot of this line of thought is that business needs to consider the impact it has as a business ecosystem interacts with and sometimes clashes with societal and biological ecosystems.

And it was here, in these final thoughts that Moore impressed me the most, and showed how this book is broader in scope, and more important than most other business books. No, this book won't tell you how to get new customers tomorrow, how to beat your competition or squeeze more productivity out of your employees. All this book will do is ask you to reconsider everything you thought about business and its place in society. That, I would say makes this book one of the most important books you could read.

If your desire is to one day be a CEO, president, divisional manager or you work on projects regularly, this is a great purchase and a great resource.

Reading is a little dry and in some parts seems like a textbook.

I found the text to be a bit academic and dry, and its' examples seem a bit outdated in many cases. However, case material related to strategic alliances can be found in the newspapers every day.....

In this context, Yves L.Doz and Gary Hamel assume that "two corporations have agreed to work together.They have assessed the value creation potential of their alliance and their own strategic compatibility. And they have decided on a design that promises to enhance collaboration and minimize tension. Everything looks good. Yet the fledgling partners find themselves unable to move from planning to implementation. Why?" Hence, in Chapter 6, after exploring in detail the gaps that separate these corporations from the start, they summarize these gaps as following:

1. Frame Gap: Perspective and definition for understanding the relationship and heuristic gap rules for behaving within it, driving day-to-day interaction.

2. Expectations Gap: Benchmark against which the actual performance (or the strength of early signals alerting to performance difficulties) is to be assessed.

3. Organizational Context Gap: Structure and process for decision making, work, oreganization and performance, and organizational learning may be more or less compatible between partners.

4. Confidence Gap: Self-confidence allows strong personal commitments and personal risk taking in cooperation; lack of confidence makes wholehearted cooperation difficult.

5. Skill Understanding Gap: Need to combine and blend differentiated skills between partners, in particular where process integration is required.

6. Task Definition Gap: Need to define a concrete set of tasks in order to start operational and tangible cooperation.

7. Information Gap: Need to share information.

8. Time Gap: Need to keep balance of costs and benefits in perspective over time, for each partner and between partners.

Hence, they explore how these gaps can be closed. And they say as a common theme runs through their recommendations that "companies should invest in their understanding of the situation and gather intelligence about their partners. They should view the inception of the partner relationship as an opportunity to learn and to improve. This may be more important than blindly rushing into implementation of joint task."

Highly recommended.