Putting collaborative effort in perspective

Collaboration between different organisations is everywhere. It's a magnificent and powerful answer to the growing complexity and ever changing environment. It offers benefits to all partners from a wide range of perspectives as lowering transaction costs, solving resource scarcity, tackling contingency challenges, .... It's my business to support these collaboration initiatives, so I meet a lot of these cases....

Collaboration offers benefits to all partners from a wide range of perspectives as lowering transaction costs, solving resource scarcity, tackling contingency challenges, ....

In one of these cases, an SME, a research institution and a multinational are collaborating to bring an amazing piece of technology to the market. The SME, 10 FTE strong, has two of it's best people working on it. Not just as a part of their job. It's the core activity for them. The research institution, 1500 FTE strong, has dedicated a part time project manager. She's really good at her job, and given the fact of being a research institution, the offered value is high. The multinational, 50.000 FTE strong, offers someone in the governing board of the collaboration project.

Now, who do you think has the strongest voice in crucial decisions?

It's interesting to look at the balance between total available assets and assets deployed in a collaborative effort. This can quick and dirty be done by comparing For the SME, it can be estimated at 20%, for the research institution 0,0003%. For the multinational it's somewhere around 0,000000000001%.

Now, who do you think has the strongest voice in crucial decisions?

It gives an indication of who's really putting some flesh in the game. It also indicates how serious the involvement in the collaboration is given the main strategic agenda for the different partners. It doesn't give an indication of the actual value all the partners bring to the table. However, it's not weird to assume a relevant correlation between the two.

Coming back to who has the strongest voice in important decisions. I think it's only fair to remind everyone around the table about these numbers before big statements are made and positions are taken. Maybe it's not so crucial for the multinational if choices prove wrong in the end. It will not affect the results of the multinational, or the research institution. But for the SME, it might make the difference between survival or failure. It makes a difference between bringing home money at the end of the month or tightening the belt once again.

In collaborative projects, everyone is equally taking risk... But some are a bit more equal than others. Keep this in mind, when sitting around the table in that meeting room... No matter who you are and where you come from.

Have a nice and collaborative day!

Koen

The Noventus Connection offers organisations consulting and support on collaboration and partnerships between organisations in a global environment. 

We believe mastering the combination of innovation, entrepreneurship and strategic partnerships is the business driver for success in the current (and future) economy. With the head offices in Belgium, close to the European capital Brussels, our team of experts is active on a global scale, supporting organisations of all kinds and sizes.

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