📖 Read: Why to define the scope of partnerships?
Your organization must determine the scope and reach of the partnership initiative to assess its impact. This includes deciding on the purpose (co-selling, co-marketing, co-innovating,…), suitable partner categories and types, and geographical and organizational scope (regions, business units, product/service focus). A clear scope is essential for aligning with organizational goals, maximizing benefits, and identifying potential risks and challenges. This proactive approach helps to mitigate potential issues, maximizing the positive impact of the partnership on the organization and stakeholders.
To determine the scope we follow two steps:
1️⃣ Capture your current expectations and knowledge about partnerships.
2️⃣ Identify the company goals you want to support through partnerships
The scope can and should be adjusted while going through the assessment and developing the partnership strategy. That is normal since you will learn and discover by time.
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Capture current expectations & knowledge
Write down the current understanding, plan and objectives the organization has in connection with partnerships.
Assessment
How and why working with partnerships will help your organization?
Which concrete objectives you like to achieve through partnerships?
Which internal and external stakeholder you see involved?
Where do you see partnerships located and reporting to in your organization?
Company Goals
📖 Read: Company goal examples
- Revenue growth (new sales channels, cross-selling, upselling)
- Customer acquisition and retention (lead generation, churn reduction)
- Market expansion (geographical or industry verticals)
- Product development (innovation, integration, or co-development)
- Operational efficiency (shared resources, expertise, or infrastructure)
What are the overall company's goals for the next 1-3 years?
Assessment
Financial:
Product:
Market:
Other:
Which of these goals you aim to support through partnerships?
Assessment
Which function of your business you like to enhance through partnerships
Assessment
Sales / Channel
Marketing
Product
Operations
Which improvement do you like to see working with partnerships in this function?
Which scale of partnerships do you plan today for your business?
Assessment
Number of partners
many homogenous partners
few strategic partners often heterogenous partner
Regional or global reach
global (affecting all regions your are active)
only in the following regions: ____________________________________
Region (best partner types for domestic and international markets):
- Domestic (US): Local partners with strong industry knowledge, customer networks, and marketing resources
- European Union (EU): Partners with multi-country or regional expertise, understanding of GDPR and other regulations, and language capabilities
- Southeast Asia (SEA): Partners with local market knowledge, cultural understanding, and distribution networks
Anything missing? Please reach out and let us know.