Discussion: Ideal Alliance Partners

In thinking about ideal alliance partners, Microsoft and Apple may not immediately spring to mind. But in fact, these often fierce competitors have a surprising history of collaboration; take for example, Office for Mac 2011. Working with, rather than against Apple, “Microsoft has once again made the Mac OS X version of its world-dominant productivity suite jive a lot more closely with the latest Windows version” (Hiner, 2010).

In “Finding the Ideal Partner,” Kwicien (2012) asserts that many organizations can grow only by forming business alliances. HR executives are increasingly being called upon to find suitable alliance partners. When considering potential alliance candidates, Kwicien emphasizes the need to think originally, or “outside the box.” He provides seven characteristics of the ideal alliance partner. One way for HR to encourage original thinking would be to ask the C-suite to consider new factors not previously considered when evaluating potential alliance partners. Drawing on the Required Resources and your own additional research, suggest three other plausible ways for HR to facilitate new ways of thinking about potential alliance partners.

Do you see any risk for the HR department in leading the charge of thinking outside the box in this regard? From a risk versus reward perspective, how might the HR department fail the organization by selecting non-traditional candidates?

 

Reference: Hiner, J., (2010). The 10 greatest moments of Microsoft-Apple collaboration. ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/the-10-greatest-moments-of-microsoft-apple-collaboration/41106

 

To prepare for this Discussion ,

Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

· https://www.amanet.org/articles/the-right-way-to-make-alliances-work/

· Finding the ideal partner:– See pdf

· Build Versus Buy in the Current– See pdf

· Managing business processes – See pdf

 

 

Assignment:

 

Respond to two of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:

 

· Ask a probing question.

· Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings.

· Offer and support an opinion.

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