Strategic Alliances: Creating Growth Opportunities

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Dates Location Tuition
Nov 17, 2008 - Nov 20, 2008 Philadelphia $6,950
Apr 27, 2009 - Apr 30, 2009 Philadelphia $6,950

Your company has the technical know-how; another has the resources to bring that know-how to market. But without the ability to build, implement, and sustain proper alliances, you may be unable to leverage the resources of even the best combination of firms. Alliances between vendors and companies and client to client are becoming critical to competitive success. A successful alliance can give you access to markets, technology, and other resources. It can give you flexibility to handle change and hedge risks, but only if you manage it effectively.

Strategic Alliances takes a wide view of the process of forming alliances and focuses on the negotiation and evolution of the alliance. It will give you the tools needed to overcome many of the obstacles inherent in new-market expansion or new-product development, and you will learn how to establish a global strategic position with limited time and resources. The program is complementary to Mergers & Acquisitions, which focuses more on valuation and legal issues.

Whether your company has just formed an alliance or is planning to, this course will help you identify key qualities to look for in alliance partners and will give you the tools to manage an alliance once it is formed. This course also defines how firms become strong strategic partners.

Tuition for Philadelphia programs includes lodging and meals. Prices are subject to change. Program Consultants are available to provide more information on course specifics and discuss how this program might meet your needs. Please contact them by telephone at +1.215.898.1776 or by e-mail.


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In addition to gaining a broader perspective, you will learn to use new techniques for designing and implementing alliances. Many of the cases and examples discussed are drawn from an international perspective, and a global view is integrated throughout the course. You will learn to improve your alliance process from start to finish by gaining a framework in which to analyze the strategic, organizational, and cultural fit among partners. Also discussed are conflicts and the evolution of alliances, as well as managing networks of alliances.

Strategic Alliances Program Session Topics

  • How Alliances Contribute to Competitive Advantage
  • Analyzing Fit Among Partners and Selecting the Right Alliance Structure
  • Stages of Alliance Formation
  • Strategies for Building Mutual Commitment and Addressing Conflict
  • Negotiating Alliances for Advantage
  • Coordination Mechanisms in Alliances
  • Protecting One's Own Strategic Position
  • Establishing Global Strategic Positions Through Alliances

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Program Logistics

Program does not officially begin until Monday morning, but hotel accommodations will be provided on Sunday evening. Program will conclude on Thursday afternoon.

Executives with responsibilities for new-business development, including general managers, strategic planning managers, and marketing managers, can learn from this course. Financial officers involved with financing new ventures or mergers and acquisitions also can benefit.

We encourage companies to send cross-functional teams of executives to leverage the application and value of the program. Additional group benefits are available when four or more participants attend a program.

Increase your global competitive advantage through forming and implementing successful alliances. Understand key alliance success factors. Learn to apply research-based techniques for designing and implementing alliance processes from start to finish. You will:

  • Analyze the strategic, organizational, and cultural fit among partners.
  • Resolve conflicts and manage the evolution of alliances more effectively.
  • Build on your collaborative capabilities to position your firm as a preferred alliance partner.

Harbir Singh HARBIR SINGH, PhD
Academic Director
The Mack Professor
Professor of Management
Co-Director, Mack Center for Technological Innovations
The Wharton School

Harbir Singh is a leading researcher on strategic alliances and strategies for corporate renewal, including path-breaking projects on managing acquisitions and alliances and post-acquisition management. He has consulted for companies such as Bell Atlantic, IBM, Merck, and AT&T. His current research includes strategies for corporate alliances and acquisitions, corporate governance, joint ventures, management buyouts, and corporate restructuring. He serves on the editorial boards of several prestigious publications and has extensive experience in working with senior executive audiences in the U.S. and India.
undefined JEFF DYER, PhD
Donald Staheli Professor of Strategy
Marriott School, BYU

Jeff Dyer is a former Wharton School professor. While at the Wharton School, he won the University of Pennsylvania’s top teaching award, the "Excellence in Teaching Award" in 1998. He maintains an adjunct professor position at Wharton, where he teaches in their Executive MBA and Executive Education programs. Dr. Dyer has published widely in the top journals, including the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, California Management Review, and Organization Science. His research has won awards from McKinsey & Company, the Strategic Management Society, and The Institute of Management Science. He has been recognized as the most cited young strategy scholar to hit the strategic management landscape in the 1990s. His recent Oxford University Press book, Collaborative Advantage: Winning Through Extended Enterprise Supplier Networks, won the prestigious Shingo Prize Research Award for Excellence in Manufacturing. BusinessWeek (May 15, 2000) stated that the Shingo Prize for Excellence Award is "considered the Nobel prize of manufacturing." Dr. Dyer received his PhD in strategy at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management and his MBA from BYU. His experience includes five years as a consultant and manager at Bain & Company, where he consulted with such clients as Kraft, Baxter International, First National Stores, Maryland National Bank, and Iowa Beef. Since leaving Bain & Company, Dr. Dyer has consulted with companies such as Motorola, Ford, Navistar, AT Kearney, Bang & Olufsen, and General Motors.
undefined PRASHANT KALE, PhD
Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business
University of Michigan Business School

Prashant Kale holds an undergraduate degree in engineering; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; and a PhD in management from the Wharton School. His research and teaching focuses on corporate strategy, strategic alliances and joint ventures, and corporate development. His research has been published in the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, MIT Sloan Management Review, European Management Journal, and the Academy of Management Proceedings. He has also presented his work in numerous conferences and has received recognition and awards for it. Prashant has worked in the industry for several years and has held management responsibilities with companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, and ICI Plc., in different countries. He has been engaged in teaching or research assignments with companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Parke-Davis Pfizer, Bausch & Lomb, the Tata Group, Infosys, Quintiles, and several others. He is a faculty associate of the William Davidson Institute for studies in Emerging Economies, University of Michigan Business School, and a fellow of the Emerging Technologies Research Program at the Wharton School.

"Attending the Strategic Alliances program further enhanced my business development competencies. Through the sharing of best practices within our diverse class, to learning from the extensive expertise of our professors, it broadened my understanding of how to further enhance my impact within my organization."
— Joe Renda, Director, US Leadership Training & Development, Pfizer

"A triumph! Sustainable knowledge to create shareholder value. Not just a development opportunity, knowledge on how to succeed. Accessible faculty, real learning, challenging, and thought provoking — a key week in your development and your organization's success. Don't you want to learn about how to create sustainable competitive advantage?"
— Strategic Planner, Healthcare Insurance Organization

"A wealth of research and insight on what is going on out there in a globalized world that increasingly depends on alliances to survive, compete, and build strategic core competencies and advantages."
— Business Development Manager, International Telecommunications Company

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