Take the guesswork out of business relationships

26.03.2011
We all understand the advantages partnering can bring to business. But, as any CIO who has had to negotiate a partnership-gone-bad knows, adversity is not often a good bedfellow when it comes to keeping partners — and your CEO — happy.

“Although, strategic alliances have established themselves as cornerstones for the competitive strategies of many firms, they tend to exhibit a mix of promise and peril,” visiting professor at Melbourne Business School and assistant professor in management and organisation at VU University in Amsterdam, Brian Tjemkes, said.

Tjemkes advises managers to be responsive to the threat of adverse situations, such as a lack of economic performance and trust, to avoid the premature termination of their partnerships. He and his research team have created a response strategy framework that shows what triggers each type of possible response to help executives better manage business relationships.

Four factors influence how a manager responds to an adverse situation, according to Tjemkes:

While managers are likely to be patient or neglect any adverse situations which may arise other issues can cause them to rock the boat by acting opportunistically or by finding new ways to solve the problem.

Social dissatisfaction, most often shown in a lack of trust and commitment, triggers more passive responses, such as waiting patiently for the issue to resolve or neglecting the relationship and ceasing to invest in it.