Partner Up

Partnering up, teaming up, and forming collaborative groups are an integral part of both education and work. In school there are countless group projects, presentations, and assignments that require group work. Additional people and resources often time produce better results, but there are also issues that arise whenever external partners are working together. Culture clash, differences of opinions, different ways of doing things, different technology and processes, and different markets are all reasons why joint ventures and partnerships might fail.

These lessons apply to both corporate mergers as well as personal business. Working with different people on different ideas can lead to great new ideas, new opportunities, and new possibilities for all those involved to further develop and grow. Working together can help all parties build their brands, expand product offerings, and generate more earnings. This is especially true if the partners have synergistic operations, complementary products/services, and service areas that can overlap and be leveraged. Working together can be a great way to meet new people, make new friends, and build your own personal business brand if done correctly.

The joint venture stake that Coca-Cola has taken in Green Mountain is an excellent example of how this concept applies to both personal business branding as well as the corporate world. Coca-Cola and Green Mountain both operate in the beverage industry, and the combination of an established corporate titan (Coca-Cola), as well as a company that revolutionized the beverage industry (Green Mountain) has the potential to be very lucrative. In addition to benefiting the firms involved, the innovative products and cost-savings that the combination might achieve can also help consumers.

Happy Reading!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101667203