How would you approach partnerships to strengthen your position in a highly competitive market?

Partnerships need to be so beneficial for both sides that you should dream of being on the other side of the table, in your business partner's place. This is a good framework to reduce the natural risk of designing a partnership that is more convenient for you than for the other party, and therefore unsustainable.

The first thing I'd consider very important before starting a partnership, is to consider the objectives behind that partnership. What do you hope to achieve? This then helps one decide the selection of partners who not only align with your vision, but can also contribute towards it.

Three success factors I was able to gather over the last years when it comes to choosing your strategic partners: 1. Partnerships must be mutually beneficial for both parties, otherwise there is no fertile ground for trust and engagement. One way streets will die eventually. 2. The company cultures need to have things in common for a partnership to thrive - it comes down to people liking and benefiting from each other. 3. The juice is in the action - stop making up hypothetical clients and joint strategies but rather approach them with the joint proposition and make it work.

The ideal partner should strengthen you, should be able to consolidate you and fill in the gaps that you've got. If they don't complement you, what then was the point of the partnership?

Was meant for advisor client relationships but still holds true when it comes to trust within strategic partnerships: Trustworthiness = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-Orientation If you master all 4 factors you will ultimately but strong and lasting partnerships build on trust. I feel self orientation is the hardest factor to achieve when it comes to partnerships as all parties try to extract as much value as possible.

Four you to evaluate each other strengths, I recommend using the 5 forces framework on Access, Experience,Product,Price, Service for which you can evaluate how you are positioned yourself without partner compared to alternatives : On Par, Better or Best. When evaluating a partnership, check on which of the 5 axis they contribute.

Partnerships require nurturing. To get the best results out of anything, one needs to nurture it, seeking ways to optimise and watch for continuous alignment.

The diverse and different your partner is in terms of skills and background looking the more exciting it is to look at the same problem from different angles, while educating and inspiring each other. It is needless to say that innovation coming from a strategic partnership is something that only comes from a relationship build on trust and successfully executed projects.