The way ahead

Let me try to draw my themes together and above all deal with why I think that partnership working is the way to go.

Business is becoming more complex. Margins are tighter. Old market boundaries are disappearing. Companies that were competitors now have co-operation agreements. Companies that didn't exist six months ago are now our competitors.

We can no longer do many things on our own - even if we ever could. We have to develop new and different ways to impact on:

Costs;
Quality; and
Speed to market.

But also the way we do business will change, driven by e-commerce. The rules of the game will change. Previous competitors or plain 'suppliers' suddenly are recognised as partners.

We need to share knowledge and experience in a way that can put a group of organisations ahead of the game.

We need to create value for our customers by leveraging the combined skills and activities of differing partners.

So a distinctive competence now and into the future will be the ability to use culture, process and people to make partnerships work really effectively. The organisations that achieve this will be able to reach further and offer more value than their competitors.

Let me leave you with two final thoughts;

We have a rule of thumb in The Post Office that says, 'A bad deal is still a bad deal even with a partnership agreement in place.'

But I would also add that a good deal often becomes a better one when enacted effectively with a partner.

up | previous | next