Definition: Business Collaborations
Business collaborations are defined as strategic alliances formed by two or more businesses to accomplish shared goals or benefits.
In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of business collaborations.
Movie Case Study
The above scene comes from the movie Phir Bhi Dil Hain Hindustani’. The scene shows Ajay Bakshi (played by Shahrukh Khan) and Ria Banerjee (played by Juhi Chawala) convincing their bosses to collaborate. Currently, both of these media houses are rivals. However, Ria tells her boss how a collaboration would result in better sponsorships and advertisements for the channel. Also, together, they can make crores of rupees.
Types of Business Collaborations
These partnerships can be as simple as agreements or as complicated as joint ventures, depending on the type of partnership and degree of cooperation involved.
Strategic Alliances
Companies establish strategic partnerships to take advantage of each other’s resources, such as assets and skills. These partnerships may be established for specialized tasks, market expansion, or technological advancement.
Joint Ventures
To explore a particular opportunity, two or more companies form a new organization that is distinct from their current operations. Through joint ventures, businesses can pursue shared goals while sharing expenses, risks, and expertise.
Partnerships
Companies develop partnerships as cooperative connections to accomplish particular commercial goals. There are many different kinds of partnerships, including distribution, marketing, and technological partnerships.
Supplier Collaborations
Companies work together with their suppliers to save costs, increase product quality, and optimize the efficiency of the supply chain. To promote innovation and expedite procedures, businesses and their suppliers must work closely together.
Coopetition
Coopetition is the term for rivals working together to accomplish shared objectives while still engaging in market competition. Businesses participate in coopetition to preserve competitive competition while taking advantage of common opportunities, such as the creation of industry standards or market expansion.
Collaboration in Research and development (R&D)
Businesses work together on R&D initiatives to spur innovation and create new goods or technologies. Companies can combine resources, knowledge, and intellectual property through R&D collaborations, which speed up innovation.
Strategic alliances with startups
Long-standing businesses work with emerging firms to obtain cutting-edge products, services, or business strategies. Larger organizations have access to disruptive innovations and entrepreneurial skills, while startups profit from the resources and market presence of established companies.
Business partnerships allow organizations to reach out to new markets, technologies, and capacities while reducing risks and accomplishing shared goals by pooling resources and knowledge.
Real-life Examples
Adobe & Microsoft
Adobe and Microsoft worked together to incorporate Adobe Sign, the company’s electronic signature technology, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Office 365. Users can create, send, sign, and manage documents within Microsoft’s CRM and productivity applications with ease thanks to this cooperation.
Google & Walmart
Google and Walmart collaborated to provide voice-activated shopping via Google Assistant. Consumers may use Google Assistant to place voice orders and add products to their Walmart shopping carts. Through this partnership, Walmart’s retail know-how and Google’s speech technology will be combined to optimize the shopping experience.
Toyota & Tesla
Toyota and Tesla Motors worked together to develop battery technology and electric car technologies. Toyota contributed to Tesla and gave it access to its manufacturing know-how in exchange for Tesla providing electric drivetrain parts. Both businesses benefited from this partnership’s advancement of electric car technology.
