Finding Allies, Building Alliances: 8 Elements that Bring—and Keep—People Together

FOREWORD

A THEORY ABOUT ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS

by Clayton M. Christensen

Each faculty member in my group at the Harvard Business School is invited annually to summarize his or her current research to the other members of the group. I titled my talk last year “We ain't discovering new ideas.” To explain this to my colleagues, I created a spreadsheet that covered the huge whiteboard that covered the front of the room. In the top row on the left-most column I wrote Level of analysis. Then below it in that column I labeled the rows, in sequence, nations, industries, corporations, business units, teams, and then individuals. I explained that the ...