Alliance Manager Job Description

Strategic Alliances: How to Make the Deal

A major industrial equipment manufacturer has just agreed to partner with a leading power company to develop, manufacture and market a new battery that introduces significant innovation and reduces environmental waste. You are excited about the new relationship as project manager on the battery program. You like that your responsibilities are going to include engaging with people from outside the company, because the company has begun to engage in some significant strategic alliances.

The engineers in your program are talented, so collaborating with another company should not be a problem. You will run the project the same way you always have, just considering the partner as one of the stakeholders. It is no longer a question of whether to ally or not, but how to do it right.

Alliances foster innovation, provide resources and spread risk. Alliances waste resources, create unnecessary risks and exhaust people. By nature alliances are complex.

Many alliances aren't successful despite their promise Managing alliances is not something that can be done for the faint of heart. Alliance managers have the responsibility to ensure effective governance of the relationship, protect their company's assets and maximize long-term value for the company, its partners and customers.

The managers of the alliance focus on the collaborative work of the alliance, which involves partnering organizations and unifying independent functions to ensure activities are coordinated, communication flows, decisions are made and resources are used to achieve the goals of the alliance. They are the people who make the alliance work. Steve Steinhilber, vice president of strategic alliances at the company, describes alliance managers as, "Conductors who craft a compelling business plan, get executive buy- in."

The Role of the Alliance Manager

Ask five people from different organizations what an alliance is and you might get different definitions. It is almost impossible to come up with a single definition for the role of an alliance manager. One person might be responsible for enabling the sale of your products, while another person might be more focused on a project with a partner.

The first one will be leaning towards sales and the other will be towards R&D. An alliance manager needs to be able to see the alliance in a clear way. They need to be aware of what is happening in their own organization.

The alliance manager will need to analyze the constantly changing information and suggest and implement adjustments where needed. Alliance management is a full-spectrum business management. The coordinating of alliances is a large part of a business.

On the other hand, the alliance manager needs to have a good understanding of financials, business, development, and sales to be able to organize the alliance. The alliance manager needs to think outside the box. They need to identify new opportunities in order to continuously evolve the alliance.

The Alliance Manager's Role

The alliance manager's responsibilities make sure that all business and operations run smoothly. Joint ventures are also known as alliances. Today's business world is filled with alliances.

They are a great way to increase profits. The main requirement for an alliance manager is to coordinate. The alliance cannot function without proper communication.

The manager is in charge of the operation. The alliance manager is usually a part of the company but they have to work impartially. They are supposed to be up to speed on the latest technology because they are managing work and reporting to managements of two or more companies.

They have to use equipment. The manager should know about the high-end product if the alliance is about manufacturing it. Sometimes companies can have the position of an alliance director, in which case the managers have to report to the director.

The Alliance Manager: A Role Played by the General Manager

The alliance manager might need to be more of a diplomat than a conductor. The role has no connections with performers in an alliance. To get things done, the alliance professional needs to win over colleagues and alliance partners by persuasion and by getting them to support the alliance.

Skills in alliance management will be useful in diplomacy and lobbying. The alliance professional needs to coordinate the execution of the strategy of the alliance, where a conductor sets the pace for the orchestrand executes the music. It is more than just about executing the strategy.

It is also about suggesting changes to the strategy when the alliance develops. A conductor needs to have good musical skills to understand what is happening in the orchestra. The alliance professional needs to have the skills of a business manager to understand what is happening.

How much business did the alliance sell?

The research was simple, they took a group of alliance salesmen and put them on a series of Alliance Best Practice training courses, then they looked to see if the training had any benefit by looking at how much extra business the candidates conducted after the training. Within six months of attending the training courses, course attendees sold 40% more business than non course attendees. The best results were obtained by candidates who could not only understand alliance best practice but could also put it into practice at appropriate times. Knowledge and experience were combined to make up competency.