There are different cases where companies partner to achieve a specific goal in business (Millson, Raj & Wilemon, 1996). Interestingly, there have been cases where small firms partner with giant corporations to achieve specific objectives. Apart from the case of Patagonia and Wal-Mart, there is also the recent strategic partnership of Apple Inc. and Clearwell. In this example, Clearwell is a less known firm than Apple. However, the partnership was strategic and had a huge impact in terms of achievement of improved business results for the two entities. This specific partnership was meant to develop Clearwell's E-Discovery platform used for the iPad of Apple. It is vital to observe that E-Discovery is normally used by businesses and legal organizations in obtaining relevant documents and information in a manner that is legally defensible manner. Therefore, this alliance led to the results of improved solutions to many legal firms and courts. It is an alliance that also produced increased profits and higher customers for both the two companies.
The results of improved sales revenues and number of customers can also be realized by Wal-Mart and Patagonia in their alliance (Rothaermel, 2015). The reason is that the alliance involves establishment of sustainable business for the two firms (Lin & Darnall, 2015). It is about doing things that impress and improve the reputation of the two companies. These two effects are sufficient to earn them same economic benefits like the case of Apple and Clearwell.
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Patagonia may learn real business strategies from Wal-Mart. Patagonia firm stands to learn effective growth strategies from Wal-Mart. It is, thus, a symbiotic alliance. To Patagonia, Wal-Mart serves as a mentor company that has much experience in the field of business performance management (Chou & Thomas, 2015). This knowledge can be imparted to the management of Patagonia.
References
Chou, P. B., & Thomas, E. (2015). A game theory perspective of asymmetric alliances for new product development. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management , 19 (1-2), 99-116.
Lin, H., & Darnall, N. (2015). Strategic alliance formation and structural configuration. Journal of Business Ethics , 127 (3), 549-564.
Millson, M. R., Raj, S. P., & Wilemon, D. (1996). Strategic partnering for developing new products. Research-Technology Management , 39 (3), 41-49.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management . McGraw-Hill Education.
