A strategic alliance is a joint work agreement.
A strategic alliance is an agreement established by companies , organizations or other entities to work together and thus ensure that each one can achieve its objectives. This is a very common cooperation methodology in the business context.
It should be noted that an alliance is an agreement , an agreement or an arrangement between two or more parties. Strategic , for its part, is that linked to strategy : the directives to coordinate or manage something.
The etymology
In order to know precisely the meaning of strategic alliance, it is important to analyze the etymological origin of the two words that give it shape:
- Alliance derives from the Latin language. Specifically, it comes from the sum of the verb alligare (which can be translated as “to tie” ) and the suffix -anza .
- Strategic emanates from the Greek strategikos , which is made up of three distinct parts: the noun stratos , which means “ army ” ; agein , which can be translated as “carry out” , and the suffix -ico , which is equivalent to “relative to” .
Stages of a strategic alliance
In addition to everything indicated, it is important to emphasize that any strategic alliance project is made up of several stages:
- Training . Within this period, the parties involved must undertake both a formulation of the strategy to follow and an evaluation of the partners and, of course, the relevant negotiations to reach a firm agreement .
- Operation . It is the moment in which a clear structure of the strategic alliance will be established, determining, among other things, the functions that each of the parties involved will perform.
- End . This moment can occur for different reasons, among which we would highlight the following: because the established period that it was going to last has been met, because there are situations that conclude it prematurely, because one of the two parties wishes to end it or because new partners appear.
The strategic alliance involves a cooperation methodology.
Its importance
Strategic alliances can allow partners to contribute products, technology , knowledge or capital , to name a few possibilities.
The purpose is to develop synergies : what is generated when two or more factors together provide a result superior to that which would be obtained with the sum of the individual results. In other words, the strategic alliance allows us to reach a better result than the partners would achieve separately.
Examples of strategic alliance
An Argentine company can establish a strategic alliance with a Chilean company so that both can enter the other country's market . With the support of the Chilean firm, the Argentine company is in a position to enter the Chilean market more easily than if it did so alone. Likewise, the Chilean company can operate and grow in Argentina thanks to the collaboration of its partner.
A Spanish club , for its part, can sign a strategic alliance with a Uruguayan team. The European entity is investing to build a sports school and a training camp in Uruguay, while the Uruguayan club is committed to giving priority to the Spanish team when transferring the best young players that emerge.