IESE Insight. Issue 2. Third quarter 2009

This edition of the IESE Insight review shows how working together with others can multiply your company¿s own best effort. A study by Kathleen M. Eisenhardt (Stanford) and Pinar Ozcan (IESE) reveals how even small firms with few resources can use strategic alliances to strengthen their market position, gain new capabilities and resources, and grow during difficult times. Thomas Vollmann and Carlos Cordón (IMD) present a tested process to transform traditional customer/supplier relationships into superior collaborative ones by identifying a few key partners, known as Pairs of Aces. Venkat Ramaswamy (Ross School of Business, University of Michigan) explains the building blocks for co-creation, which will open up a whole new world of value. And Bruno Cassiman (IESE) examines the integral role university research can play in industry innovation. An article by Pascual Berrone (IESE) recommends that managers take a hybrid approach to engage with the growing green movement: pay attention to external influences, he says, while also looking inside your company¿s own resources for inspiration; and John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz (Harvard Business School) insist that marketing, practiced the right way, benefits consumers and even democracy. Three executives dish up some tasty advice for El Bulli, lauded as the best restaurant on the planet, to ensure that it remains at the cutting edge of innovation. And a dialogue between jury consultant Edward P. Schwartz and IESE Prof. Paddy Miller applies lessons from the courtroom to the group dynamics of the boardroom.