Managing Strategic Partnerships

A successful relationship with any portfolio partnership is based on a mutual understanding and profitable business venture. Ensuring this is the case is a ongoing explicit understanding of the practical purpose of the partnership, the metrics of tracking success, and creating a specific program that channels internal resources appropriately.

After many attempts to understand business and roadmap planning that involved a strategic partnership, Lynda Kate’s Smith’s outline and class of Best Practices for Measuring and Managing Partnerships was quite the  “Aha” moment.

After many roles as a technology product manager partner relationship manager, I encountered Lynda Kate Smith’s Stanford MBA class outlining a macro level understanding of corporate level partnerships, strategies, and the most appropriate metrics for each partner category.

An outline of her class and see the attached as an important resource and my transcription of her online recording is provided below.

At a high level overview, her outline covers the following 4 key areas of understanding;

1. Why Partner: Reasons and Benefits- Corporate, Product Line, Innovation Strategies
2. Frameworks for Partnering Strategy: Partner Type, Company Goals, Customer Value
3. Tools for Structuring Success: Mutual Business Planning and Clear Expectations
4. Execution: The Documented Partner Business Proposition.

Reference:

Best Practices for Measuring and Managing Partnerships, Lynda Kate Smith, Stanford University.