Creating a joint venture could mean a major shift in direction, or, at the level of a strategic alliance, it may be just another profit center. Either way, you must first decide how much of yourself and your business you will devote to partnering with another organization. The more you contribute, the more you can expect to gain.

    Next, calculate what you want to achieve by collaborating. One of the root causes of joint venture failure is lack of clarity, failing to decide what you want the end result to be.

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You must know what your objectives are in order to plan for their accomplishment. You cannot hit a target you cannot see, and the more you plan, the more you can expect to achieve.

    This is an excellent time to carry out a S.W.O.T. analysis of your company - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. While an overall examination can be informative, a SWOT analysis can be most effective if the partner is already decided and the desired end result is already known. Very often one of those factors is awaiting decision. You might have a person or company in mind with whom you want to joint venture but must decide on what the joint venture will do, or you know what you want to do and are looking for someone with whom you can joint venture. SWOT analyses can help you focus on the attributes you are looking for.

    By identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of partners and projects, you will know to look for a partner whose strengths balance your weaknesses and vice versa; and projects that exploit your opportunities and minimize any threats.

    You may feel that a businessman with over 45 years of international experience would be an asset in guiding the progress of your joint venture. I would be happy to help on the following basis.

Recommended book - The Partnering Imperative: Making Business Partnerships Work . This book provides the ingredients for successful business partnerships. It identifies the value that effective partnerships can generate, the reasons why so many run into difficulties, and the imperatives for leaders who want to make partnering work in a globalized, digital world.