Grow From the Right Intro:

Business Partnership Trends in 2014

Key Findings

Grow from the Right Intro

85%
of business leaders feel
partnerships are important

CEOs across all business sectors agree that strategic

partnerships are critical for any company looking to
compete on a global scale.

Grow from the Right Intro

45%
of companies struggle to
keep their partnerships active

But finding the right strategic partner for long-term

growth remains elusive.

Grow from the Right Intro

The Grow from the Right Intro report by the BPI
Network and CMO Council, in conjunction with
Powerlinx, explores the challenges facing businesses in
partnering and best practices for overcoming these
obstacles.

How important are strategic partnerships and

alliances to your business?
Key Findings:
Extremely
important
Important
Growing in
importance
Not important
Don't partner

Companies are seeing

increased value in
establishing and growing
globalpartnerships. More
than half of respondents
feel that these strategic
alliances are extremely
important to their
business. Notably, no one
reports that partnerships
were unimportant or
nonexistent.

How well does your company develop and leverage

business partnerships and strategic alliances?
Key Findings:

Extremely well
Quite well
Not very well
Poorly
Not at all

While more than half of

respondents feel that
their companies develop
and leverage
partnerships well, only 8
percent feel their
companies do it
extremely well.
Furthermore, 42 percent
of respondents feel their
companies are
ineffective at
developing
partnerships.

What percentage of your partnerships do you believe

have been successful?
Key Findings:

100 percent
80-99 percent
60-79 percent
40-59 percent

Only 1 percent of
companies enjoy
complete success in
their partnerships, and
nearly half rated their
partnership success at
less than 60 percent.
The difficulties of
acquiring and
retaining partners are
key factors leading to
their lack of success.

Do you have a sense of how much you invest

annually in partnering?
Key Findings:
More than $5 million
$3 million to $5 million

12%
4%

$1 million to $3 million

6%

$500,000 to $1 million

7%

$300,000 to $500,000

8%

$100,000 to $300,000
Less than $100,000

20%
42%

The range of budgets

for sourcing and
maintaining partnerships
is vast. While the
majority of respondents
spend under $500,000
annually on
partnerships, the
majority of big spenders
devote over $5 million
on partnership
development each year.

In what areas would effective partnerships most

benefit your company?
Key Findings:
Other
Improving our supply chain performance
Financing our business
Upgrading our products or services
Boosting our operational effectiveness
Adding our sharing resources
Gaining access to new technology/IP
Extending our product line
Expanding our geographic reach
Increasing revenue
Acquiring new customers

4%
4%
9%
12%
13%
23%
26%
27%
32%
66%
68%

Respondents highlight
increased market share
and market access as
the most significant
benefits of partnering.
In fact, increasing
revenue and customer
base are the main
drivers, with expansion
of geographical reach
feeding into the former
two.

How do you rate your ability to identify, qualify and

secure partner introductions?
Key Findings:

Extremely
good
Quite good
Not bad
Poor

While all respondents

see value in
partnerships, only half
feel their companies
effectively perform the
actions necessary to
identify and secure
those partnerships.

What types of partnerships, opportunities or

introductions would most benefit your company?
Key Findings:
Other
Business sale
Supply chain
Finanical
Outsourcing
Merger or acquisition
Consulting
Distribution/channel
Marketing promotion
Technology
Strategic
New customers

1%
5%
6%
8%
12%
13%
14%
29%
39%
42%
55%
57%

Strategic partnerships
that allow access to
new customers and new
technologies are the
top concern for those
surveyed. New
customers result in
increased market share
and revenue growth,
while new technologies
can increase efficiency
and improve offerings.

Do you have a formal partnering strategy?

Key Findings:

Yes
No
In development
Not sure

Only a third of
respondents have a
formalpartnering
strategy, but many are
taking steps to create
formal partnership
plans. In fact, a
quarter of respondents
are in the process of
developing a formal
strategy.

What channels, networks or resources are you evaluating

or using to advance your business development process?
Key Findings:
Other
Online marketplaces
Brokers and/or intermediaries
Business information services
Strategic sourcing services
Social media networks
Business development consultants
LinkedIn groups
Peer-based executive affinity networks
Professional organizations
Conferences and expositions
Industry associations

6%
9%
10%
11%
15%
24%
25%
25%
31%
34%
40%
41%

Respondents often turn

to their peers for advice
on sourcing
partnerships. On the
other hand, Respondents
rely less on
intermediaries like
brokers as they feel the
lack of personal
networking is less
effective in determining
key alliances.

Would you be interested in a cloud-based platform that automates

the process of making the right business introductions through
intelligent B2B matchmaking on a global scale?

Key Findings:

Yes
No
Maybe

Three-quarters of
respondents would or
might use
amatchmaking
platformto create
business partnerships,
especially if they feel
the partnership will
allow them to maintain
control over the
relationship-building
aspect of acquiring
partners.

Want to learn more?

Download the Full Report at

http://plnx.in/rightintro
Thank you for reading!