Partnering will continue to be a valid model for many organisational relationships but must be extended to include different forms of strategic alliance. The pace of change and the intensity of competition will make the management of relationships in integrated value chains and networks a key component of corporate success, but the investment required to build relationships will grow. Complex negotiations and meaningful measurement of critical aspects of performance will be needed to achieve continuous improvement in competitiveness. However, as relationships are increasingly integrated using network technology, access to management information will improve and the need for a proliferation of key performance indicators (KPIs) will reduce. The use of large numbers of KPIs in a relationship can be a sign of insecurity and decreases as business strategies are aligned. Relationships, because of their value to a company, will generally be long-term. However, the project (product or service) will often be shorter term, so the relationships will be constantly evolving and reforming to form the most competitive value chain for each project at a particular time. A model example of value chain partnering is shown in Super Products Limited - a hypothetical study in value chain partnering.
Figure 5: Super Products Limited - a hypothetical study in value chain partnering
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