1st Edition

Enterprise Relationship Management A Paradigm For Alliance Success

By Andrew Humphries, Richard Gibbs Copyright 2015

    In today's connected global marketplace, success and failure is bound up with the management of your inter-organisational partnerships. Competition is no longer between individual organisations but between alliances of companies and networks of supply chains. Richard Gibbs and Andrew Humphries provide a practical guide to the management process and skill sets needed for co-ordinating the business activities that are essential to creating a competitive advantage. Their eight partnership types developed from earlier research help readers adapt their relationship strategies to the different opportunities that present themselves and focus their greatest time and resources on the collaborations that offer the greatest value. The text includes an explanation of the context for collaboration, the principles and drivers for success, as well as techniques for appraisal and management. This is an excellent overview of the tools, techniques and philosophies behind an enterprise’s successful management of its strategically important relationships. Enterprise Relationship Management will help ensure your organisation has the requisite ability to form, manage, retire and exit partnerships in a fluid and agile way. Whether you are in sales or marketing or finance and operations, this book will show you how to get the most from your partnerships.

    Introduction; Chapter 1 The Extended Organisation; Chapter 2 The Complex Challenges of Collaboration Management; Chapter 3 The Right Culture for Collaboration; Chapter 4 Operational Implications of Culture; Chapter 5 Drivers to Success; Chapter 6 Collaboration Appraisal; Chapter 7 From Cost to Value Creation in Outsourcing and Facilities Management Relationships; Chapter 8 Principles of Collaboration Management; Chapter 9 Practical Collaboration Management; Chapter 10 A Strategic View – The G + H Partnering Types; Chapter 11 ERM – the Core Competence of the Future;

    Biography

    Andrew Humphries is currently CEO of SCCI Ltd which he founded in July 2004 (www.sccindex.com). He is an expert and thought leader in performance improvement in collaborative business relationships. His scientific diagnostic technique demonstrates how organisations can gain strategic advantage by formally managing their teamwork. It has been used successfully in construction, rail, defence, manufacturing, retail fashion, automotive, IT, food & drink, agriculture and the public sectors in the UK, EU, ASEAN and Australia. A global leader in his field, Andrew is sought after as a conference speaker and author and is a Visiting Fellow at the Cranfield School of Management. Richard Gibbs is a recognised expert in marketing channels and alliance management. His career spans senior sales and marketing positions in multinational companies such as Xerox and Novell Inc. His current research focuses on cross-cultural inter-organisational collaboration in global supply chains. Richard teaches at the University of Winchester.

    ’Today’s successful businesses rely on globalisation for their prosperity. The complex physical and virtual supply chain networks that support globalisation require proactive engagement, shared understanding, outcome-based thinking and collaborative working. This is an insightful book that unpacks the dynamics of effective enterprise relationship management and provides the reader with the tools, techniques and procedures needed to optimise twenty-first-century supply chains.’ Air Vice Marshal Graham Howard, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Logistics Operations) ’Customers no longer demand a product or a service; they want outcomes - the fusion of different offerings - to satisfy them. Companies which are great at producing one or just a few of the things that make up these outcomes are faced with a stark choice: either develop all that is required often at eye-watering cost and risk, or partner with other organisations. The latter is increasingly the right answer but provides new challenges which demand focused attention. Enterprise Relationship Management offers some invaluable insights into this challenging space and I commend the book to you.’ Matt Wiles, Managing Director, Serco Defence ’As an entrepreneur who has started several businesses, most of which were centred on partnerships, I can highly recommend Enterprise Relationship Management as a real "tour de force" of this topic. It is clear that the authors have distilled their deep knowledge and many years’ experience into this book. It covers all you need to know of this increasingly important and often neglected corner of the modern business world. I particularly enjoyed Chapters 3 and 4 on cultural influences and found the section on reporting very helpful. Figure 6.9 is typical of the very useful graphics throughout the book and deals with the key question make, collaborate or buy?; increasingly the answer is collaborate and this book is the perfect guide to effi