Conclusion

The development of joint strategies has led to an evolution in the general issue of company management. We've gone from managing a portfolio of products to managing a portfolio of (internal) skills. We're now moving on to managing a portfolio of external partnerships, in an economy that remains essentially competitive. But it is also becoming increasingly "networked".

The challenge is to be able to rely on long-term, trust-based external contractual relationships, so as to be able to rapidly mobilize complementary skills, and in particular to cope with economic and technological change. But this raises new management issues that cannot be resolved by either hierarchy or the market. For example: can a partner or ally be loyal if he also has relations with one of our competitors? Can they remain loyal if they are bought out by a competitor? How can we ensure that...