Executive Interviews: Interview with Jonathan Hughes on Collaboration
March 2008 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary

Jonathan Hughes
Partner at Vantage Partners, a consulting firm.

attributes are essential to being a good partner. Without them, collaboration between multinational partners becomes difficult, if not impossible.

• How is this important for online companies like Google, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, eBay, etc?
  Each of these companies, like their other online peers, is critically dependent upon a web of partners supply chain and distribution partners who help them deliver products to their customers; small software development partners who help them develop new services for customers; advertisers; the companies who provide the hardware and software these companies use to run their businesses; and so on. Because online companies, even more so than traditional "brick and mortar" businesses, tend to be asset-light, they are in many ways even more dependent on collaboration with partners than other companies. They also compete in markets where innovation cycles are incredibly rapid. So the ability to access good ideas from a range of external sources through effective collaboration is essential. The ability to make decisions and execute quickly in order to capitalize on new ideas and technology also requires a high degree of internal collaboration. Finally, these particular companies are all very focused on building and extending their brands globally so collaborating with multi-national partners is critical, and this also requires a very high degree of internal collaboration.

• What about external collaboration with suppliers, vendors, customers, and maybe even with competitors to further business interests?
  As companies compete in an increasingly global marketplace, collaboration is essential no company can rely solely on its own assets and capabilities to succeed. Collaboration thus enables companies to reduce costs by working with supply chain and outsourcing partners who can do things more efficiently and at lower cost; collaboration enables companies to increase growth by relying on partners to help them penetrate new markets; collaboration enables companies to create new and innovative products and solutions by leveraging partner expertise and technology. Collaboration is also what enables suppliers to deliver more value to their customers, to retain those customers, and to compete on the basis of something other than having the lowest price.

  As for collaboration between competitors, I see such relationships becoming more and more prevalent. For example, one highly successful joint venture I have been involved with was created by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) and Humana two health insurance companies that compete fiercely. Yet they collaborate closely through a joint venture called Availity that provides tools for healthcare providers to submit claims online and determine eligibility more efficiently. This venture has been highly successful, delivering significant benefits to patients and healthcare providers, as well as to Humana and BCBSF. Similarly, consumers expect that their computer hardware, software, and peripheral devices will work seamlessly together. HP and Microsoft, for example, compete vigorously in the market for server software. Yet they collaborate closely to ensure thatWindows works well on HP laptops and with HP printers. Is collaborating with competitors challenging and risky? Definitely. Is it necessary? Absolutely.

1. From Competition to Collaboration Case Study
2. ICMR Case Collection
3. Case Study Volumes