Abstract: This book is very timely contribution to the field of good management and global co-operation among business people involved with Multi National Companies (MNC) and Joint Ventures (JVs). It is a very comprehensive guide for inter-working among global partners. It deals with practical art of establishing enduring alliances. With WTO playing key role in globalization, the concepts and practices for selecting business partners and establishing alliances has taken significant shift in the last few years. It is a new way of establishing cross-border relationship for easy and fast entry to global market. As out-sourcing of services has taken a new turn where services like e-marketing, e-billing, health care , Customer Relation Management(CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) , after-sale service like help-desk, on-line queries on 24x7 basis are better run at lower cost in developing countries rather than engaging any local effort. All world-class companies continue to look for strategic alliances and cost cutting to remain competitive in the world market. All participating members look for win-win situation where instead of acquisitions & mergers, alliances are becoming more common where all partners depend on each other?s core competency. Thus, people have shifted their focus from competition to co-operation. The good old slogan ? All under one roof? is gone and business people are rather projecting list of their alliances, which have brand names and great visibility. In strategic alliances they rely on global networking and draw synergy from partners. It needs new managerial skills, new HR policies to strike a judicious balance between co-operation and conflict. Strategic alliances has taken new dimension as networking organizations are reaching out to countries like China,.India, and Latin America for low cost but efficient human resource. The authors have provided very useful guidelines for proactive alliance management based on many practical examples. They have given future-oriented rationale for why an international manager should master new approach of networking, planning and executing global projects This book has dealt with strategic alliances very comprehensively and is of great value for global CEOs to keep in mind the key factors for their success in co-operation among business partners. They need to continuously update themselves with emerging trends in technologies and management techniques. The principals explained in this book are equally applicable to domestic as well as international scenario for entering into new entrepreneurial alliances. The authors have drawn from rich experience of many world class companies and given a road-map for international managers for evolving their process of selecting right partners for their strategic initiatives.
By Dr Sarbjit Singh, PhD
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