Alliances and Joint Venture

Challenges

Alliances have become an increasingly important—and complex—part of corporate strategy. They can be extremely useful in uncertain situations and in pursuing growth opportunities. But the advantages of shared risk are often offset by unclear governance and lack of genuine commitment, leading to several important questions:

• In which areas—geographies, product lines, or functions—might an alliance or joint venture make sense? Is it better than an outright acquisition?
• For a given opportunity, who are the right potential partners?
• How can we prepare for alliance or joint venture negotiations—for example, for value capture and split?
• How can we ensure constructive management and decision making in the alliance?
• How can we set up an active joint-venture-and-alliance portfolio-management process for evaluating strategic options?

DC GROUP Competencies

Not all alliances are created equal. Depending on a company's strategic goals, different kinds of alliances and different organizational structures may be appropriate. DC GROUP works with its clients to find the best way to structure and manage their alliances and partnerships to achieve the strategic goals of the venture.
Alliances can be notoriously difficult to manage. We help companies put a structured process in place, covering every step of alliance development:

• Defining the explicit role of alliances in their strategy
• Identifying appropriate partners
• Structuring the right kind of relationship
• Managing the relationship over time—including the eventual end game

Our practice consists of more than 130 partners and 700 trained professionals at all DC GROUP levels worldwide, all with significant experience in corporate development and corporate finance. Specifically, our corporate-finance task force and cadre and our Value Science Center—a dedicated global group of more than 100 specialists—provide comprehensive support for our clients.