Organization Partner

In a channel distribution network, it is important to remain steadfast and above all, smart in making decisions and executing strategies. Getting smart with distribution implies looking at potential channel partners in relation to their impact on profitability and not just their revenue generation. To look at profitability means to consider a partner’s ability to increase and transform traffic into actual sales as well as their future growth. With the help of a partner profile, parent companies can arm themselves with important information such as these and make informed, thoroughly considered choices about the allocation of precious resources to channel partners in order to make substantial and relevant improvements in profit in a given year.

A common mistake that companies make is that they assume that their largest partner is also the most important and profitable within a channel. However, the truth is that larger ones more often than not generate little to no profits. They may have the potential to grow while the smaller customers with greater profitability and potential are overlooked. Instead, these companies should fully allocate profit-and-loss statements by affiliates that transcend the superficial, high-level transfer cost analysis. It is always important to remember that no organization or company can afford to allot resources to a stagnant channel partner.

If one combines profitability and growth, an extremely useful picture emerges that allows a parent company to draw a matrix that groups channel partners into four quadrants which are:

Red Ink Partners – Those that fall under this quadrant are considered below average and their profitability ‘dilutes’ the business. If ever a company uses such a partner that returns no profitability at all to increase its business, then it will erect a major barrier that hinders much-needed growth. Higher-ups should convert the “red ink” to black, or in order words, find the strength to decrease business with those that fall under this category.

Re-purpose Partners – The partners in this quadrant fall below average profitability but represent a milder pressing problem if their business with the manufacturer is stagnant or dwindling. However, they still inhibit growth by wasteful consumption of staff time, promotional funding and other precious resources that could be used more productively. Diverting resources away from this quadrant will improve growth without costs that are incremental.

Stalled Partners – These are those who have profitable accounts with low growths and are contributing productively, but need to “jump start” their businesses in order to come up with growth that is of greater value.

Next-generation partners – In this quadrant is where parent companies can find the partners who are profitable and still growing. In short, these are partners with ideal partner profiles and are everything one can ask for in an account.

Determining the best amongst a set of partners for the distribution of products and services can be a challenging task. It is important to analyze partner profiles carefully, talk to existing customers who can vouch for their reputations, and consult with other companies who have had experience doing business with them before. Remember that in any industry, knowing and working with the right people are critical components to success.

In 2010, I expanded my nonprofit Science, Engineering and Mathematics Link (SEM Link) to a national nonprofit organization by relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since the organization’s inception in 2005, we have developed a strong program structure that has enhanced the math and science educational experiences for over 1000 Metropolitan Atlanta youth. I realized that our organization was introducing math and science to students and providing resources for educators and parents in a unique and innovative way; therefore it was time for the expansion of our programs. While looking at other nonprofits organizations that have been around for several decades had a national presence and strong strategic partnerships. I wanted to model my organization after those successful organization so that we can achieve our vision of “unveiling potential for exposure” for more students around the country.

When starting a nonprofit organization there are many steps that go into turning the idea into a business and developing operational and program structure. Developing strategic partnerships is the last thing on your mind, you just want to get the organization up and running based on your business plan and your vision. However, once the nonprofit is operating and you’ve accomplished most of the things in your initial business plan, it is time to think about growth and sustainability. In the first 5 years of a nonprofit organization’s existence, you are just trying to get resources to implement your programs and develop your brand. The partnerships you establish aren’t strategic because you align yourself with anyone that is willing to take a chance on a new nonprofit organization. You don’t always pick organizations or corporations that allow you to stay true to your mission or achieve the goals for establishing the particular partnership. But after a few years and successful programs under the organization’s belt, one’s brand has been developed and you can put more thought into your partnerships. You realize that your partnerships are key to taking your organization to the next level, from a start up to sustainable organization.

Strategic partnerships are called that because of the planning that goes into identifying and developing those relationships. The strategic part of establishing partnerships is analyzing your brand, your goals and your current resources; then finding organizations that will allow you to get the things that you need in order to take your organization to the next level. But partnerships are about what you can bring to another organization to help them with their brand, achieving their goals and enhancing the resources available to them in order to help them achieve their goals. A great partnership allows both organizations to do that and is a win-win for both. A nonprofit strategic partnerships should be established are with community organizations, corporations, academic institutions and government agencies,each of which have their specific role in helping a nonprofit organization achieve its mission.

Corporate partners are important because corporations, government agencies and colleges and universities provide valuable resources for nonprofit organizations. Corporate partnerships provide resources such as volunteers, in kind service and good donations and financial contributions, that are critical for program implementation. Colleges and universities provide a special resource for youth serving organizations because it provides volunteers closer to the student you serve to provide role models for college preparation and career exploration. In addition, hosting events on college campus provides students with an opportunity to visit a college campus, which not every student has an opportunity to do. The right corporate partners not only provide resources for your organization, but can help the organization build its reputation to get additional resources. I’ve personally experienced with my nonprofit establishing a new corporate partnership with a company because of the companies that were our existing corporate partners. Corporate partnerships aren’t limited to large corporations; small and medium sized businesses make great corporate partners as well.

Nonprofits provide their corporate partners with an opportunity to implement their corporate social responsibility plan in its community. They provide an opportunity for its employees to give back to their community by volunteering. There are many consulting firms that volunteer their employees expertise to provide nonprofit organizations with service such as public relations, marketing plans and other services that they could not afford. Nonprofit organizations also provide corporations with an opportunity get tax write off when they make financial contributions to the organization. The final thing that nonprofits provide corporations that they partner with marketing and advertising opportunities; most nonprofits list their corporate partners on their website and other promotional materials

The key to nonprofits establishing strategic corporate partnerships is having the infrastructure to attract and maintain these relationships. The first step in this infrastructure is to have a message that informs corporations of who you are, what you do as organization and how they can help. Corporations have various resources and interests, so be sure to give corporations options when asking for their help. For example, when asking for a financial contribution have various levels for receiving donation with each level having rewards based on the amount of the contribution. The rewards for financial contribution should not be equal, the more a corporation gives the more rewards they should receive for their contribution. In addition, do you research when soliciting corporate partnerships, don’t approach any organization that doesn’t historically support initiatives that are related to the mission of your organization. Also know how an organization provides support, there are some corporations that will never make a financial contribution, but will provide in kind service or good donation that are just valuable as a financial contribution to your organization.

The second type of strategic partnerships that are important to growth and sustainability are community partnerships. Community partnerships are relationships with other nonprofit organizations that provide an opportunity to enhance your programs. There are two type of community partnerships, complementary and cross promotional. Complementary community partnerships are those organizations that allow you to directly implement your programs. You and a complementary partners may establish a relationship because one of your offers a program that one of you all need to enhance your programs. For example being a math and science educational organization, SEM Link has established programs with organizations that have after-school programs for youth in order for those organizations to add math and science to their programs. A complementary partnership, may be an organization that you both offer similar programs, but you want to collaborate to combine your resources to increase the impact of both organizations.

Cross promotional community partnerships with other nonprofit organizations provide an opportunity for both organizations to increase the awareness of their organizations through the relationships. There may not an opportunity for these organizations to collaborate on programs, but they can pool resources that will both organizations to grow because they are in the same sector and serve the same target audience. This relationships allows both organizations to promote their brand and possibly increase participation in their programs. For example, SEM Link is currently establishing a relationship with an online community for high school students. This relationship won’t allow us to offer programs, however high school students will be aware of our organizations and we can promote our programs for high school students on this online community. In return, we will provide the organization with math and science educational content and help create a segment in the online community for students that have an interest in math and science.

They key to establishing strategic community partnerships is ensuring that it is a win-win for both organizations. If the partnership will not help build both brands, enhance organization’s programs, increase the organizations outreach to its target market it, it isn’t a good partnership. The key to a successful partnership is that both organizations benefit. There are times, especially with smaller nonprofits, when you will enter partnerships with an organization and there isn’t as much benefit as you thought it would be by aligning your organization with that organization. Another tip is when establishing partnerships, you must go into the negotiations knowing what your needs are from and what you can give to another organization. Once that is established, it is important to establish a partnership in writing by developing a partnership agreement. It is good idea for an attorney to draft a general partnership agreement for you, that you can adapt and adjust for each partnership. Finally, ensure that you advertise that relationship by writing a press release when it is established as well as list that partnership on your website and other promotional materials.

In this country, there are plenty of nonprofits that are doing great work. However, they aren’t serving as many clients as they can because they aren’t as diligent as they should be with establishing partnerships. Therefore many of them are reducing their program offering or closing their doors, when they are meeting such a great need in the community. There is no organization that will be able to survive if they try to achieve their mission without establishing partnerships. Partnerships provide resources and relationships that allow one’s organization to achieve its mission. As you think about your organization, what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve that mission for years to come, you must think about how can I get all the resources that I need. If you want your organization to be sustainable and be able to handle the growth that comes when you successfully implement your programs and marketing and public relationships strategy; you must think about partnerships. The more strategic you are about establishing corporate and community partnership; you put your nonprofit organization in a position to not only survive but thrive.

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and in its most simplistic form, it is actually the art of placement. The definition of Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Shway) is Wind and Water. This 5000 year old philosophy has finally come to the United States and it is spreading across all ages. I know this personally because I have been in many homes and businesses throughout the country. Generally, if the family is practicing Feng Shui in the office, they are also practicing the same at home.

The technique that practitioners use is to surround themselves with “auspicious” chi energy. They do this by looking at their surroundings with a discriminating eye. You have been in these surroundings many times, there just isn’t a sign in the workplace or home that Feng Shui techniques have been used to create a balanced work or home area.

Picture yourself walking into an office to meet with an advertising professional that you would like to partner with in creating a new company. You walk into the building and it is non-descript and the signage on the new door is a simple sign… In my practitioner eye, I am already evaluating the area around the door. I knock on the door and I hear a loud noise as if something has crashed to the floor.

Externally, the building wasn’t one that I would choose for a successful business and the internal loud noise set me off guard. The offensive noise was “clutter” that he knocked off of his desk in his haste to answer the door. His desk had so many items on it that I could barely speak to him about the potential of a business partnership. What are the chances of him and I being in a partnership together?

The most basic Feng Shui rules are to remain clutter free in your surroundings. Clutter is piles of unread books, piles of paper, and stacks of files sitting on the hard drive. If you have not cleaned your files in years in your office, you have created “shar” energy. Shar energy is the word used for “bad” chi energy. The area is stagnant and you have not left enough space in the files to allow new business to come to you. Symbolically, you have placed a stop sign on your office door and you are not allowing any new business to come into your life.

Your office should be as streamlined as possible to create a natural balance. This balance is what can make you or break you during those stressful moments of working on a project. Your desk should be positioned facing the door way. Your phone should be in a position of easy access, preferably on the right side of your desk, and your files should be easy to reach from your desk. Most of us are working 40 hours or more a week and we need to be as comfortable as possible. Look at the pictures on your wall and analyze them for a moment. What would others think of these same pictures?

In modern business, partner relationship management software has become all important. There is a huge demand for it in the market and the demand is coming from different industries varying from technology to chemical manufacturing. There are many different people in the organization who use such tools. But this tool will most likely have a different meaning to each of these people depending on their role in the organization. It is the same thing with any software tool, product, application, or computer program, each of these tools will have a different significance in the hands of different employees with different goals and roles. So the question becomes what is a good partner management system for each and all of these people? Can a 360 degrees view of such a management system be possible in order to scale things more accurately and without bias? Perhaps it is much more important to look at the vendor’s point of view first and foremost. It is after all the vendor that is the end all and be all of the rest of the organization since it is in his role where PRM control will determine whether the whole operation works smoothly and whether the whole operation network yields more gains than losses in terms of revenues.

For those whose role in the company is selling, these vendors will most likely need channels. This is most especially true when the vendor’s product is currently growing or is already in its adult stage or its market peak. This is also what usually happens when the market price for the product is significant enough for one to consider building a bigger partner relationship management software list. Right now, the problem that most companies have is contained in a different sector which direct sales, as well as network cloud sales both share. The problem can be solved if the product offered has a crystal clear answer to a business problem or it has to be proven to work if in concert with other products which then will provide a more comprehensive answer. So one might ask why exactly such problem solving is so central in today’s business environment. The answer to this one is quite simple. It is because end users and customers have changed in terms of how they decide to buy products as well as why they chose to buy products. Some groups have placed certain gimmicks that help motivate people into purchasing and they slip this into their strategies. Their purchase motivators are all geared towards lessening expenditure and offering a quicker and smoother ROI. It offers an easy to gauge effectiveness that will keep the business on its toes. It also enables the parent company to keep as well as further develop the position it has with customers and at the same time, being functional despite lower manpower and resource consumption.

At the end of the day, the most important aspect of partner relationship management software for a vendor is its ability to inform the vendor as to what kind of strategies to employ in order to create purchase motivation throughout the network. This is the end all and be all of the company and this is the end all and be all of PRM as well.

Forever beginning

How does “it” start?

Organizations are formed because of the need to survive.

In order to survive, theories on scientific management were drawn. One of the most popular is Taylor’s theory which required making specialists out of workers, while removing their need to make decisions…in order to lessen mistakes .

Soon, schooling models were created to lessen conflicting perspectives and divergent approaches. Intellectual products for organizational theory were legitimized. And in the interest of achieving organization-wide objectives, the human relationship aspect, was made to play a role in creating an environment conducive for work.

How did “it” start?

The organization started when human action was meaningfully directed towards the others. It became a social action which grew into a social relationship when the actions of individual men were oriented towards each other. This now became a social organization. When an action is economic in nature, this will become an economic organization.

We can consider the workplace a social system. Thus, social factors can be accepted as important predictors of job performance.

How dare “it” start?

Because of pressing needs, leaders took it to themselves to create, grow and maintain an organization. Different situations and organizational characteristics call for different approaches that require skills in communication, handling people, planning and organizing, hiring the best, creating alliances and logistical networks. Even, the different scenarios on the availability of resources influence the type of structure — agonic where there are dominant and submissive members, or the hedonic where leaders are selected based on social solicitation.

But, in any situation and structure, the success of the approach will depend on the leader’s ability to inspire, show great courage, to lead and innovate.

Plans were made simple to understand by all people in the organization. The need to respond to situations rapidly required superiors to pass authority to other people in the organization.

Forever beguiling?

How could “it” jump start?

Organizations have bosses and workers, and there are two basic beliefs in nature of man that influence managers to adapt one strategy rather than another. The traditional view sees man as having an inherent dislike in work, must be coerced to make productive and avoids responsibility because of his low ambition. But some do believe that man can be naturally motivated to pursue higher levels of needs by creating an environment in which personal needs and organization goals are aligned. The acceptance of the positive nature of man could make it easier for a group of individuals to work harmoniously with each other.

The four cornerstones of emotional intelligence, according to the Executive EQ, is another way of assuring the proper jump start. Emotional honesty, awareness, feedback, intuition, responsibility and connection are used to build confidence. Expanding the individual’s circle of trust and his capacity for listening, managing conflict, and making the most of managing conflict will help make the individual fit the organization. Aligning the individual’s life and work with his unique potential and purpose will ensure collaboration. And the extension of his creative instincts and capacity to flow with problems and pressures will help him compete.

You do not need to be a Sun Tzu fan to win battles. But planning, dividing labor, knowing and harnessing your environment, getting to the best vantage points first, and employing information resources can give an organization a good start.

The presence of procedural memory and declarative memory could held produce valuable improvisation and that organizations could develop specific competencies. These competencies will give the organization the unique identity that will set it apart from the others.

How should “it” jump start?

To jump start “it,” we simply change could to should!

When there are limitations that prevent people from achieving the purpose on their own, an organization is required. And Barnard, in his 1938 masterpiece, said that organizations are essentially cooperative systems created to achieve a purpose. Individuals cooperate because of a purpose which he sees as proper or important, as wells as, the satisfaction that cooperating gives in return. Personal motives also encourage people to act.

Your problem will be solved with the help from another individual. However, the effectiveness of the solution will be dependent on how others view the situation. The more they agree with you, the better will be the relationship…and of course the resulting output.

Structure, nurture and culture

What is “it”?

An organization is a new or refashioned structure created to support strategic growth and exploit opportunities created by changing population, income and technology. Without structural adjustment, growth will not be possible or activities will be inefficient .

What wills “it”?

The internet and similar supporting technologies will push companies to develop products and/or services at the most efficient and effective way. X-engineering will lower down costs and wastage, eliminate work redundancy, and keep the organization ready for any situation that will require immediate decisions from people in any level, at any time. And, because of there is a need to cross boundaries between organizations (customer, partner and supplier), success is dependent on the organization’s ability to cooperate and share information with its members…to adjust to different shared values and behavior…to trust and work for mutual benefits.

The expansion of the organization to “distant” can be made manageable by structuring the organization to effectively handle political, geographic, cultural and economic distance. From religious beliefs to topography, not underestimating the difficulties of cross border activities is the key to preparation.

When members continuously engage in identifying, solving and preventing problems, the organization can continuously experiment, improve and increase it’s capability. It is called a learning organization embodying the key disciplines of continuously clarifying personal vision, having deep assumptions that help the individual take action, creating shared vision, providing team learning and understanding the pattern of interrelated actions among different elements.

Theorizing Organizational Theory

How shall “it” go?

Change is a permanent part in the life of any organization. But there are mechanisms that can be used to effectively introduce required change. The organization and its agents should draw on force and domination to transform practices rapidly and with great stability. Force initially is applied to “pressure” the members to accept an innovation, which can be a new rule, practice or technology. Eventually, domination is applied to help make this innovation a normal part of the organization .

Advances in communications, transportation and information technology will continue to be the driver of emerging economies.

The trusted manager will guard the organizations from attack, and will be responsible for inculcating this attitude in the people under his management. An energetic and efficient team that is capable of responding to the unanticipated, as wells as, to the ordinary event will be required.

Globalization will eventually become common among organizations. But, old thinking should be given up to absorb new values.

Then and Now

When I first attended the Orgthe class of Dr. Patricia Lontoc at De La Salle University, my original definition of an organization was, “A group of people who can mutually share resources and learn to change, and is decent enough to respect capacity and opinion can be called an organization. They can help each other excel in a common goal. They are one. It has a structure, embraces changes and advances in technology; it is a learning organization that is respectful of its members and leaders.”

That definition was formulated from past experiences and discussions with other people who dealt with organizations in their day to day lives. But, now I know that this definition is very simple and much have to considered in how organizational theory was developed, and how it can be made into good use today and TOMORROW.

Supplement Sidebar:

The 6 Ws of OrgThe

1. We are an organization.

2. We formed this organization because of our need to survive.

3. We have an organization that has a clear purpose…with members who agree and believe in this purpose.

4. We have an organization that believes in the capability of its people.

5. We have an organization that cooperates and shares information with its members…adjusts to values and behaviors…for OUR mutual benefit.

6. We have a learning organization that accepts and exploits changes.