STRATEGIES
>> Partnering
Partnering Strategy flows directly out of a well-understood company (brand and positioning) strategy. How a company partners, how it acts when engaging with others, is a test of its brand values . Who it partners with reveals and exemplifies its brand and position.
Partners complement the company’s value in creating and delivering products and services, often serving as the selling and support arms of the company. Partners enhance a company’s relationships with target markets and customers. Strong market-facing partnerships, especially those which are local to a community, can help the company develop new product and market opportunities and short-circuit customer problems.
Partnerships may be strategic (critical), important (useful but not exclusive in developing and maintaining a market position) or suppliers (replaceable sources of goods and services who do not develop market value). Partners should clearly understand each others’ values, roles, expectations and processes.
WCP is deeply experienced in developing partnership agreements and mutual-value relationship management plans and processes. Recognizing that formal agreements require the advice of legal counsel, WCP can contribute to the agreement document in areas that articulate the roles and responsibilities of each partner.
Every partnering relationship blends common well-known issues with the unique circumstances of the participants. We help clients define how they want to share control and financial compensation, create social and philanthropic expectations, evaluate spin-out points and their processes and work together in other areas. A successful partnership enables the relationship to be both flexibly dynamic and reliably trustworthy, meeting the brand and positioning objectives of each party.
Joint Ventures
In Joint Ventures or partnerships that tie a company with a region or a cause, WCP can help clients develop innovative forms of ‘new economy’ ownership and engagement. These may include employee or community ownership models governed by stakeholder counsels, dual classes of stock that separate operational decision-making from financial reward in order to open financial gain opportunities to more participants, and other traditional as well as social capitalism approaches to partnering.
OEM and Licensing
In technology OEM agreements, WCP can suggest branding, scope of use and other market facing considerations for the relationship. The terms under which a technology is licensed to another can drive market dynamics such as user adoption, pricing, reach and even pursuit of values and objectives. Whether the arrangement is to be short or long-term may also characterize the pricing and performance expectations of the relationship.
ISV and VAR Channels
WCP is also experienced in developing global-scale Independent Software Vendor, tiered distribution from supply houses to agents, channel and Value Added Reseller, customer support and training programs as well as industry alliances and collaborative associations.
WCP brings the same level of creativity and values-based engagement to our partnering counsel as we do to the other more visible aspects of our services.