Managing Partnerships and Alliances

18-19 November 2022 | Skills training

Working in partnerships and alliances has become a phenomenon of growing relevance, both for businesses and government agencies. One major driver has been the sheer complexity and size of global challenges faced by organisations looking to succeed; other drivers have emerged from the benefits of specialisation and from regulatory pressures or other sources. Whether partnerships and alliances are collaborations in support of common goals in terms of research, marketing, influencing or solution development: Operating in such settings presents unique challenges for the organisations involved as well as for those shaping and operating the settings for collaboration.

The course will explore the management challenges – and tools – relevant when building and engaging with partnerships and alliances. Concepts and tools for analysing, designing and shaping partnerships will be introduced, respectively from the vantage points of sovereign decision-makers (governments and their sub-national entities), private sector entities and of civil society. Following the initial two conceptual modules, the subsequent six modules will offer opportunities for practical application of analytical and managerial tools by working through challenges that present themselves to existing partnerships and alliances, considering their evolution, progress made and likely future.

This is a course about power, inertia and influence in collaborative settings. Participants will learn how and why different organisational and governance choices can hinder progress or be a means of introducing innovation and shaping decision-making. Participants will take from the course a set of tools and analytical approaches highly relevant for designing, assessing, leading, managing and working with (global) partnerships and alliances in private and public settings.