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| STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Alliances with competitors-unthinkable not too long ago, but in today's fast-paced business world, "extraordinary times demand extraordinary happenings." So the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star have joined to create Workopolis.com, a joint, Canada-wide Internet job board to fight the juggernaut Monster.ca, as it opens up in Canada. It turns out that the Star's job site lacked the Globe's national profile, and the Globe's job site lacked the Star's reach in Southern Ontario. The idea to join forces came from the job site managers, not senior management, and the managers were able to build trust between themselves as individuals. Both sides still compete in all other aspects of their business, such as news. Today, competitor alliances now form approximately 50% of business alliances. These alliances are risky and complex-60 to 70% of them fail. Partners may want to steal technology, customers, and markets controlled by the other partner. As well, employees at all levels of an organization may resist the idea of cooperation with a long-time adversary. But they can be successful. To date, Workopolis has been a successful competitive alliance with great prospects for the future. To view the selected video, a password is required. Refer to page 125 in your textbook and use the first word appearing in the main text column as both 'username' and 'password' (case-sensitive) when prompted. Click to View "Strange Bedfellows" The free RealPlayer plug-in is required in order to view the videos. If needed, the plug-in can be downloaded from Real's website. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Source: Based on "Strange Bedfellows," CBC Venture 739, February 15, 2000. |