Suppose your organization is attempting to set up a new strategic alliance with a supplier. You are considered the key manager from your organization to manage this alliance. What would be your goals for the planning stages of this proposed alliance? What would be your goals for the first few months of the alliance? What would be your long-term goals for the alliance?

Answer 1

What would be your goals for the planning stages of this proposed alliance?
One of the most important goals in developing this type of relationship is to ensure that the vision and objectives of the proposed alliance can be agreed upon by those parties involved. Also, as the key manager for your organization you'd like to identify the key manager from the partnering organizations team and attempt to create a good personal relationship of that person. These first few meetings are extremely important in terms of building trust, making sure both organization's needs will be met, but the benefits will be shared, and that both organizations believe enough in the alliance that they will fully support the development and growth of the alliance. It is also important that all parties communicate the constant need to share information and support programs of continuous improvement. While not all of these things will be accomplished during the planning stages it is vital that they are all discussed into certain degree agreed upon before the alliance gets off the ground.
What would be your goals for the first few months of the alliance?
The goals for the first few months of the alliance would center around the partnering organizations communicating to their employees their support for the alliance. In addition it would be important for management to communicate the objectives, the benefits, and the changes that are sought via the alliance. This would also include communicating the goal of continuous improvement to all the parties involved
Also during these first few months personal relationships and trust must continue to be nurtured. In terms of physical changes, the organizations would need to make the required changes to their rules and regulations, their information systems, and their processes that would facilitate the success of the alliance.
What would be your long-term goals for the alliance?
The long-term goals of the alliance would be to serve the customer by offering them high quality products in the most effective and efficient manner possible. This would be achieved by the organizations long-term commitment to building trust, sharing information, teaching each other, measuring progress, reevaluating the vision and objectives of the alliance from time to time, and continuing the alliances support of continuous improvement programs.