Supporting Strategic Alliances the SMART Way

The Network Economy forces managers to pursue opportunities and engage competition through alliances and networks of alliances. Managers and organisations must therefore nurture the skills that successful alliance development and management require, and attain the “partnering mindset” pertinent to this new industrial paradigm. Studies indicate that alliance success remains an elusive aspiration for the majority of organisations, with up to seventy percent failing to meet their initial objectives. The SMART Project addresses this issue by developing a systematic managerial method for strategic alliance formation and management. This method provides the structure for a software-based decision support system that includes extensive learning and support materials for manager and business consultant training. Following a brief introduction, this paper provides an overview of the concepts and issues relating to strategic alliances and networks. Subsequently, the requirements and functioning of the SMART System are described. Finally, the future direction and validation strategy of the project are relayed.