Overview

No enterprise is an island. It depends on the active support of customers, suppliers, employees and many other stakeholders for its continued success. Collaboration is inevitable. It is needed to bolster innovation and meet diverse needs. Collaboration with competitors is also frequently needed. Thus, many embryonic markets will remain small and fragmented until manufacturers agree common standards. Collaboration takes many forms such as supplier-customer partnerships, strategic alliances, informal co-operative marketing and, of course, virtual corporations.

What does it take to create a successful interprise - a collaborative venture comprising several enterprises? Who makes suitable partners? How can inter-enterprise knowledge networks be created and sustained? Whether your enterprise is large or small, this chapter takes you through a series of steps that addresses these challenges.

Collaboration knowledges

Before you can start to build a successful collaborative interprise, you need a set of basic knowledges - the know-why, know-what, know-who and know-how of interprising.