Fastalliances: Power Your E-Business. [Hardcover]

Larraine Segil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 2000

Crucial techniques for business and finance managers making e-business alliances
Alliances and mergers are coming fast and furious for dot.com and Internet-enabled companies-and in fact are a key strategy for any savvy digital business. In this book, Larraine Segil reveals her proven approach to business development in the Internet world-what Segil has trademarked "fastalliances.com." This is the first book to dissect the unique aspects of e-alliances, from identifying deliverables to providing tools proven to cement swift and decisive relationships in Internet time. Key points are illustrated with both positive and negative examples from companies that include Compaq, Sun, Disney, Go, Kodak, MP3, and Stamps.com.
Alliances are a crucial part of any Internet business-both dot.com and brick-and-mortar-and an important topic for business and finance managers whose companies are making use of the Web. The approach, author credentials, and unique message of FastAlliances create a package that has bestseller potential.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book manages to hold the reader's attention. Worth a look."(Business Age, March 2001)

From the Inside Flap

It is happening at Internet speed-a relentless stampede to grab "net real estate" that makes the land rush of the Wild West look tame by comparison. AOL's acquisition of Time Warner was the catalyst, dramatically changing the rules of the business development game. Now, any savvy dot.com or brick-and-mortar business that wants to establish or maintain a powerful online presence must learn how to develop alliances fast-or slip into oblivion.

In FastAlliances(TM), the world's foremost expert on assessing and managing alliances in the Internet industry reveals her proven approach to business development in the new economy. International speaker and CNN commentator Larraine Segil demonstrates how business development and alliances have morphed into swifter, sleeker corporate and operating functions-which she calls FastAlliances(TM).

Segil provides foolproof strategies and techniques for initiating successful FastAlliances. Her revolutionary seven-step approach provides the survival tools proven to cement swift and decisive alliances when time is of the essence-and they can be applied to any business in any industry. Illustrating key points with powerful examples from major companies such as Compaq, Sun, Disney, Office Depot, Kodak, Softbank, and Stamps.com, FastAlliances gives managers the know-how and understanding to:
* Know when to form a FastAlliance
* Transact business in Internet time
* Define the key deliverables that your FastAlliance must have
* Manage stakeholder expectations
* Create a FastAlliance business development team
* Create and test must-have success factors

Segil demonstrates how companies that dominate the Web use alliances to delight customers with information, services, and products that solve their problems quicker, cheaper, and more effectively than they could ever have imagined. And she shows you exactly how your company can do the same.

There is still time for your company to launch or strengthen its Internet presence-but in order to compete you must establish key alliances and partnerships. FastAlliances gives you the vital boost you need to jump-start the process and develop a winning strategy for the new economy.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 11th edition (December 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471396834
• ISBN-13: 978-0471396833
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,190,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Larraine Segil is an accomplished author, keynote speaker and expert in the area of Strategic Alliances. Born in South Africa, she has lived in the USA for over 37 years, and during that time has been CEO of companies in Aerospace, Healthcare and Services, building the leading consulting firm in Strategic Alliances. Originally trained as a barrister/lawyer, and obtaining an MBA while as an operating executive, Larraine's first book was a novel, "Belonging", the story of a child of privilege and another of poverty whose friendship spanned prejudice, decades and continents. Her non-fiction books have been the seminal texts in the arena of Strategic Alliances, partnering with customers, suppliers and other internal and external partners. "Intelligent Business Alliances" features her research while teaching executive education at Caltech( California Institute of Technology), and "Fast Alliances" applies her techniques to the internet era of accelerated relationship development. "Dynamic Leader, Adaptive Organization", her book on leadership, evolved out of the observation and personal executive experience that nothing will ruin a good partnership faster than a lack of leadership. Her last book "Measuring the value of Partnering" tackled one of the most complex areas of alliance insight, Metrics.

Her newest passion is writing MUSIC and CHILDREN'S BOOKS which her grandchildren love so much that she is now making them available to the world! See www.RockinGrandmaMusic.com for downloadable books and music or BUY SAM, THE BROKEN ROBOT's Special Box and his 3 books and 2 CDs of Music and Narrations on her site. She can be reached at [e-mail] or [e-mail]. Do "LIKE" us at www.facebook.com/RockinGrandmaMusic and @LSEGIL for our Twitter account.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Written In 60 Days, and Reader Suffers Pain, February 24, 2001

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fastalliances: Power Your E-Business. (Hardcover)

One of a few books I bought in an airport bookstore rather than on amazon, my first thought is that the amazon process really does help--this book is flashy enough to get one to buy it on the fly, but probably would not survive in open competition when alternatives are easily visible in an electronic bookstore.

The author notes that the book was written in 60 days. It shows, and the reader is the one that suffers. I have no doubt that the author, an attractive person by the photo, is a wonderful speaker with many insights to offer. The book, however, is not well laid-out and one has the feeling that 100 different briefings have been sorted into chapter files and dumped into the book. What couldn't be fit into the text was turned into sidebar or text figure.

The book includes a CD-ROM I will never use, as well as a URL for a web address I will never visit. I would rather they had put the money into better editing, more white space, and a much better structure for the book.

My bottom line: the book should not be ignored, but I would recommend that the executive interested in these concepts have a strong younger manager of promise read this as one of 3-4 other similar books, and distill all of them into a ten page memo.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collaboration with Appropriate Velocity, March 1, 2001

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fastalliances: Power Your E-Business. (Hardcover)

The hybrid title obviously fuses two very important words: "fast" and "alliance." It is Segil's assertion (and I totally agree) that "The e-commerce business world has turned many old rules on their heads....You have to be ahead of the [other] players in this game. FastAlliances can be the tool -- the approach that helps you reinvent a small part of your organizational structure if you are a traditional (not new Internet) company. If you are a new Internet company, the challenge will be to apply some level of discipline while maintaining the velocity you have already created." So the emphasis for all organizations (regardless of size or nature, be it a "traditional" or "new Internet" organization) must be on forging and sustaining appropriate strategic alliances while conducting business at a high rate of speed. How? Segil offers a "unique model" which suggests a seven-step approach:

1. Diagnosis of Your Company, Competitors, and Industry

2. The Up-Front Work in the Creation of FastAlliances

3. Define the Deliverables for FastAlliances

4. Managing Stakeholder Expectations

5. The Essential Characteristics for Business Development

6. Leveraging the Global E-Space

7. Employing the E-Mindshift System

Actually, there is a Step 8: The Deals -- Making, Managing, Adding Value, and Terminating Them. She explains the "nitty-gritty of creating and managing FastAlliances -- metrics, ongoing change mechanisms, and knowledge transfer; tools, tools, tools!" There is a separate chapter devoted to each Step, followed by a final chapter (Chapter 9) in which she discusses "Pitfalls and Opportunities -- Summing Up." This is an especially valuable chapter because Segil addresses a key issue: How to grow a company in e-space by using traditional alliances along with FastAlliances.

In the Afterword, Segil provides her e-mail address, inviting readers to visit her website and thereby gain access to a suite of more than 25 software processes that comprise the Larraine Segil Partner Relationship Management (PRM) System. She also provides her e-mail address with the expressed hope for a continuing relationship with her readers. In other words, Segil continues to seek out FastAlliances of her own which perhaps (just perhaps) may include one with you. I also direct your attention to two appendices: FastAlliance Toolkit and Companies Supplying Weapons and Countermeasures in the War for Web Customers.

I rate this book so highly because its material is substantial and logically organized, because it is very well-written, and because (as Segil herself would no doubt agree) the book enables, indeed encourages each reader to select a combination of concepts, strategies, and tactics which is most appropriate to her or his own organization. Yes, to some extent, this is a "How to" book but it is also a "Why to" book. The seven-step or, for some, eight-step process allows for all manner of modifications to accommodate (a) the unique needs and interests of each organization and (b) changes in that organization's circumstances (eg leadership, resources, or competitive environment). Of course, the value of this book will be determined by the nature and extent of needs to which its ideas are applied, and, the skill with which such application is made. Now more than ever before, organizations need all the friends they can make...and then keep. Segil suggests a practical and comprehensive process to achieve that objective. Now more than ever before, organizations must also be able to maintain the velocity necessary to compete successfully. Segil also addresses that need. It's nice to know where to locate her if and when a FastAlliance with her would be appropriate to you both.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST-READ FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EXCEL IN E-BUSINESS, January 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Fastalliances: Power Your E-Business. (Hardcover)

REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EXCEL IN E-BUSINESS E-business is NOT dot.com business --- It is about supply chain management and customer relationship management. Segil shows readers how FastAlliances can help them stay lean while growing. Her keen insights and expert approach can help any organization use FastAlliances to do the real business of e-business. Readers become armed with the management tools they need to transition from the traditional to the new economy. TRULY GROUND-BREAKING! A MUST READ!