Trusted Partners: How Companies Build Mutual Trust and Win Together

Jordan D. Lewis contends that creative collaboration between independent entities is the route to success in our increasingly complex global marketplace. However, he says these collaborations can be initiated properly only when both sides truly trust one another. After helping corporations worldwide implement such alliances for more than three decades, he explicitly shows in Trusted Partners how leading companies go about it. Simultaneously, he offers a road map for readers who also hope to negotiate this potentially rewarding but always slippery slope. Lewis looks first at the nature of trust, then describes ways to build it between internal factions, allies, and even competitors. He insists clear identification of "a single purpose" is key--for instance, as Mobil and British Petroleum did before forging a successful European joint venture using only BP's brand name (both firms accepted this, he notes, because they knew it would stem market-share erosion at each company). Conversely, he reveals how IBM and Sears failed to adequately align their organizations and purposes before uniting to form the ill-fated Prodigy online service. A final section offers rules for moving negotiations from preliminary discussions to agreement; guidelines for sharing benefits, costs, and risks; and other process-aiding tools. --Howard Rothman