Collaborate with Your Competitors and Win
Collaborate with your Competitors and Win
Gary Hamel, Yves L. Doz, and C.K. Prahalad
Summary
This article discusses that collaboration between competitors can be a beneficial experience for all member companies. Three conditions are specified for creating a positive collaborative environment, first that the partner's goals converge while their competitive goals diverge. If the two firms are working on similar technologies to support different core businesses, then there is a higher chance for successful collaboration and a lower chance for competitive disturbance. If, both companies are chasing a larger player in the industry, then both companies are motivated to work with each other to stand against the larger player. If both collaborators believe that they can learn key skills from the other collaborator without giving up too much proprietary information, then the chance of success for the joint venture is higher. The article describes how an organization can prepare defences to protect against negative technology transfer to the other firm. The authors discuss how Western culture is prone to sharing while Eastern cultures are more closed. The ability for technology transfer to occur differs based on the complexity and portability of an idea. If a firm has a better technology where its blueprint can be downloaded onto a disk and emailed to a competitor, then there is a high degree of risk for that firm. If one firm's advantage is in its holistic process, then this is something that can be identified and studied but not easily replicated. The major findings are that the key to successful collaboration is in an organization's ability to learn. It must have the willingness to closely examine the functions of its partner and be able to circulate its learning’s throughout its organization to maximize gain. In this analysis we will be discussing various types of collaborations, the reasons why competitors should collaborate and not collaborate. How to create
Gary Hamel, Yves L. Doz, and C.K. Prahalad
Summary
This article discusses that collaboration between competitors can be a beneficial experience for all member companies. Three conditions are specified for creating a positive collaborative environment, first that the partner's goals converge while their competitive goals diverge. If the two firms are working on similar technologies to support different core businesses, then there is a higher chance for successful collaboration and a lower chance for competitive disturbance. If, both companies are chasing a larger player in the industry, then both companies are motivated to work with each other to stand against the larger player. If both collaborators believe that they can learn key skills from the other collaborator without giving up too much proprietary information, then the chance of success for the joint venture is higher. The article describes how an organization can prepare defences to protect against negative technology transfer to the other firm. The authors discuss how Western culture is prone to sharing while Eastern cultures are more closed. The ability for technology transfer to occur differs based on the complexity and portability of an idea. If a firm has a better technology where its blueprint can be downloaded onto a disk and emailed to a competitor, then there is a high degree of risk for that firm. If one firm's advantage is in its holistic process, then this is something that can be identified and studied but not easily replicated. The major findings are that the key to successful collaboration is in an organization's ability to learn. It must have the willingness to closely examine the functions of its partner and be able to circulate its learning’s throughout its organization to maximize gain. In this analysis we will be discussing various types of collaborations, the reasons why competitors should collaborate and not collaborate. How to create
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