The wisdom of partnership

Through these collaborative arrangements, companies hope to share knowledge, skills, technologies, products or markets that would otherwise be too costly to develop alone. Partnering reflects an appreciation of the limited resources companies have to gain access to new markets, learn a new technology or develop a new product.

As defined by Michael Cunningham, author of Partners.Com — How to Profit from the New DNA of Business, these network partnerships enable "a firm's business model to form a business network of suppliers, buyers, customers, facilitators, trading centers, stores and others, resulting in more effective and efficient delivery of products and services to the market."