Business Partnership Central

Here's a bit on the lives and lessons of two men who were business partners for 55 years, collectively starting at least a dozen companies, and supporting each other through marriages, triumphs and tragedies, although no longer in business together.

From the Gordon Pitts's report in the Globe and Mail, Peter Munk (76) and David Gilmour (80), a media and water tycoon and a gold baron, respectively. 

In an international alliance that seems to have wider-than-industry implications, the Italian automotive giant, Fiat, and Serbian industrial conglomerate, Zastava, signed an agreement last week on strategic cooperation and joint investment.  As reported, the memorandum would give Fiat a 70% stake in Zastava (the state would continue to own the remaining 30%), and mark Fiat's return to Serbia, where it had had close to 50 years of good cooperation.

Fiat's arrival means

• Substantial financial investment
• Intensified production
• Expansion of manufacturing
• Revival of the domestic metal industry
• Attraction of foreign manufacturers for spare parts production
• Increased employment not only in Kragujevac, where Zastava is headquartered, but in other towns throughout the country

From the Department of "Was that form of exit strategy written into our partnership agreement?" comes this story from the Chicago Tribune of an Illinois business partnership gone wrong.  Apparently, the home rehab business -- started by two friends -- was experiencing financial difficulties.  It seems that one partner wanted to take out more money to fund her wanna-be lifestyle.  When the other balked, she was brutally stabbed.  The attacker-partner was sentenced to 35 years in prison. 

Make you wonder:  with friends like that, who needs enemies?

It's short and sweet and to the point, and the recent Forbes.com article, "What to Look for in a Business Partner," features yours truly!    My 15 nanoseconds of fame (our sense of time has changed since Andy Warhol's philosophical pronouncement)! 

Among other gems that were quoted (the bit about "looking under your partner's hood" was definitely something I mentioned), the article noted the "tie-breaker voting" mechanism that a former partner and I had worked out. 

Also exciting was that the reporter contacted me as a result of reading this BusinessPartnershipCentral blog!

Yes, I know blog posts can be short -- as short as a single link to another site -- but that wasn't my intent with my last post on "A Strategic Alliance Success Story."  [Don't get me started about technical glitches and how I've been missing my own posting deadlines!]

As you can see from the article about Marian Banker and Ramon Ray's Small Business Summit, held in NYC in February, they have managed to have a wonderful collaboration for the past several years.  Partly, it seems, because they have been laser-focused on the purpose of the collaboration (building an annual conference) . . . AND they and bring different skills to the mix.  Plus, when you see then together at the Summit, they're having a ball! 

So strategic alliances needn't be all gloom and doom -- nor do they need to be all-consuming.  But you do need to choose wisely, as Marian and Ramon did.  Read the article on Marian's site to find out more!