| Term |
Definition |
| ABP |
Alliance Best Practice Ltd. A research consultancy dedicated to identifying and implementing proven best practices in strategic partnerships (alliances). |
| ABP Framework |
The collection of alliance (partnership) best practice documents compiled by Alliance Best Practice Ltd including: case studies, white papers, presentations, methodologies, questionnaires and training materials. |
| Alliance (or Relationship) Balanced Scorecard |
The concept of the balanced scorecard approach is a well known approach in general management areas thanks to the work done by Kaplan and Norton amongst others. As this phrase is used in alliances it relates to the identification of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs - See Definition in this glossary) and their structuring in a balanced reporting set including for example: leading and lagging indicators (example leading - trust lagging - commercial return), internal and external, long and short term factors, etc. |
| Alliance Best Practice |
The conscious use of identified critical success factors in a given order to achieve superior competitive performance in partnerships. |
| B2B |
Business to business |
| B2C |
Business to consumer. |
| Collaborative Relationship |
The development of a group of inter related Enhanced Relationships with a common purpose, goal, go to market model and strategy. |
| Contract Negotiation |
Contract negotiations involves determining whether all parties have realistic objectives, forming high calibre negotiating teams, defining each partner's contributions and rewards as well as protect any proprietary information, addressing termination clauses, penalties for under performance, and highlighting the degree to which arbitration procedures are clearly stated and understood. |
| CSF |
Critical Success Factor. An element of a strategic partnership which contributes significantly to the success of the relationship. |
| Dimension |
A grouping of the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) according to their nature. There are five distinct dimensions identified in the ABP framework these are: Commercial, Technical, Strategic, Cultural and Operational. |
| Due Diligence |
Due diligence in strategic relationship terms refers to all those investigations that organisations need to undertake to reassure themselves that the organisation in question would make a suitable partner. Typically this would include factors such as: commercial resilience, strategic direction, technical quality, cultural alignment and operational structure and customer attitude. Aspects which would be specific to O2 would also include: organisational customer focus, business language used and proposed use of the O2 brand. |
| Enhanced Relationship |
A transactional relationship in which one party, or multiple parties enhances the basic offering by adding something of specific value to the other party/ies, which in turn increases the value of the product or service to the eventual consumer. |
| Incremental Revenue |
Revenue which is developed as a result of the relationship and would not have existed otherwise. |
| Internal Alignment |
Internal alignment refers to all those activities, efforts and communications that an organisation undertakes to be able to better explain to its own staff the nature and purpose of the proposed relationship. Typically the better the degree of internal alignment the easier the organisation is to partner with. Internal alignment usually involves areas such as: sales, marketing, finance, internal audit, technology, field operations, etc. |
| IPR |
Intellectual property rights. |
| Key Performance Indicators (Key Metrics) |
Key performance indicators (KPIs) or key metrics are identified as those best practice success factors which can be clearly measured and have been shown to have an exponential impact on results. Examples might include: trust, cultural alignment, commercial return, cost value ratio, dispute resolution process, etc. |
| MOUP |
An MOUP is a document explaining the guiding principles and operating procedures for the relationship. It covers such things as: Vision, Business Value Proposition, Governance Model, Key Stakeholders, etc. |
| Mutual Needs |
Mutual needs refers to that situation in which the needs satisfied by the relationship are identical for each / all the partners involved. This is by no means a common occurrence because in most cases different partners will have different needs in relationships. However, when the needs are truly 'mutual' (i.e. the same) then the power and impact of the relationship is significantly enhanced and the chances of success are far greater. |
| Partner Assessment |
Partner assessment involves analysing a potential partner's strengths and weaknesses, creating strategies for accommodating all partners' management styles, preparing appropriate partner selection criteria, understanding a partner's motives for joining the partnership and addressing resource capability gaps that may exist for a partner. |
| Partnership |
A business to business relationship in which there is a high degree of collaboration Partnership Process - The completion of structured tasks in a defined order to achieve a partnership goal. (E.g. Discovering new partners, optimising a partner relationship, developing a new set of partner products or services, etc.) |
| Partnership Operation |
Partnership operations involves addressing senior management's commitment, finding the calibre of resources devoted to the partnership, linking of budgets and resources with strategic priorities, measuring and rewarding partnership performance, and assessing the performance and results of the alliance. |
| Partnership Relationship |
A relationship in which one or more parties to the relationship share one or more of the following: costs, benefits, customer knowledge, production capability, market intelligence, and IPR. |
| Partnership Termination |
Partnership termination involves winding down the partnership, for instance when its objectives have been met or cannot be met, or when a partner adjusts priorities or re-allocated resources elsewhere. |
| Relationship Control (Strategies) |
Relationship control and the strategies designed to deliver the correct degree of control required in relationships relate to the entire structure of guidance rules and regulations published by both / all partners to ensure appropriate governance of the relationship. These will vary in complexity and degree of depth depending on the value or potential value of the relationship in question.
Typically things like: attitude to risk, risk sharing, key stakeholders roles and responsibilities, systems of control and the Memorandum of Understanding and Principles all form part of the relationship control framework. |
| Risk Mitigation |
Risk mitigation in relationships is based on a clear identification of the potential risks that the relationship poses. All collaborative relationships have risk inherent in them due to the nature of the relative lack of control as compared with other business models (e.g. formalised joint ventures). The very flexibility of the model which is a business advantage means that a degree of risk is ever present.
Best practice organisations run a formal risk identification exercise and then as a follow on develop risk mitigation strategies and executable plans. All are designed to reduce the impact of or the likelihood of risk whilst at the same time having regard to the strategic intent of the relationship and the necessary flexibility which will deliver the relationships goals. Typical risk areas identified are risks to: brand, commercial results, inappropriate knowledge transfer, license infringement, etc. |
| Strategic |
Having a major impact on a business or a significant business department through (e.g. commerciality, innovation, business breakthrough, developing new markets or new customers in existing markets). Generally (though not always) strategic indicates a degree of importance or value in the partnership relationship. |
| Strategic Partnership |
A Strategic Partnership is a formal relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organisations. |
| Strategy Development |
Strategy development involves studying the partnership's feasibility, objectives and rationale, focusing on the major issues and challenges and development of resource strategies for production, technology, and people. It requires aligning partnership objectives with the overall corporate strategy. |
| Synergy |
A situation in which both / all parties in the partnership receive more value than it costs them to contribute. Usually this cost / value ratio arises because of the particular appropriateness of the partners involved. |
| Transactional Relationship |
A relationship between a supplier and a buyer where goods or services are exchanged for value (usually commercial value). |
