Selected aspects of strategic partnership in transport – part 2
The implementation of a strategic partnership between transport operators involves risks resulting primarily from the simple fact that partnership in itself does not guarantee the absence of conflicts. Even when the parties to the agreement meet a number of conditions and possess the ability to quickly eliminate/limit emerging threats, there is a risk of project failure caused by external and internal factors.
Insufficient transparency of communication between the parties to the arrangement, overestimating or underestimating one’s own capabilities and those of the other party, and unrealistic expectations regarding the effects of cooperation are just examples of elements that undermine the universality of the partnership concept. It must also be kept in mind that in certain business situations, finding a partner for cooperation may simply be impossible, even with a positive attitude from the initiator of the agreement. Furthermore, one must consider a scenario in which a partnership-based arrangement does not bring the expected results (even in a long-term horizon). In such a case, withdrawing from the cooperation may prove not only very costly but also dangerous. Such a risk exists especially when the previous cooperation was based on trust expressed through openness and extensive information exchange. The differences in the approach based on partnership, which highlights the role of confrontation, are visible in many aspects of enterprise functioning, including transport companies, as illustrated in Table 1.
The comparison presented in Table 1 also indicates that partnership does not essentially exclude competition. The idea of cooperation can be linked to two fundamental planes: the area of ownership influence (via capital) and the area of contractual influence (via contract). In the first case, an agreement within a capital group (such as a financial, operational, or strategic holding) becomes the starting point for cooperation, while in the second, it is the conclusion of a contract with a carrier. The existence of a dependency based on attempts to subordinate one of the parties to a joint venture essentially excludes the development of a “modern” partnership in this arrangement. It is also not obvious that every cooperation within an agreed contract will be equivalent to a partnership. As a rule, the chances for its development and persistence only become apparent when a real community of interests emerges and both parties to the agreement realize the opportunity to develop a synergy effect.
The mentioned types of economic structures differ from each other in the freedom of selecting contract entities, the time horizon, and the scope of cooperation. However, their common feature is basing cooperation on contractual ties. Their mere existence is not yet a sufficient condition for the emergence of effective partnership relations in the system of cooperative links between transport operators.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 6/2011.