Strategic Alliance Magazine Q1 2018 - 15

ASAP BENEFITS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

not made the idea of "collaborative excellence" the heart
and soul of business. This is the next quest. We need to
demonstrate-with stronger thought leadership and
more rigorous metrics-how our collaborative approach to business produces better performance,
profitability, and competitive advantage. Mike Leonetti
[president and CEO of ASAP] and John DeWitt [editor
and publisher of ASAP Media] are doing great work using Strategic Alliance Magazine for focusing our
profession's thinking as well as influencing the mindsets
of senior executives about the power of collaboration.
This must continue-the long-term impact is massive,
especially when we broaden our horizons to the larger
picture of collaboration beyond alliances.
Ard-Pieter de Man: What ASAP achieved in those
20 years is that it is now a thriving community of alliance managers with a solid program of activities. It has
acquired a strong position as the go-to organization for
alliance management. When we started with a small
group of people, we had that ambition, but there were
many times when that ambition seemed far away. Particularly when the Internet bubble burst, ASAP only just
survived. When I see that it survived the last crisis,
which was much deeper, I think that is a great sign of
the strength of ASAP. My only wish would be to get
more industries on board. It is great to have pharma,
biotech, and IT, but there is a vast world in finance, public-private sector, and other sectors where we haven't
even scratched the surface.
What was your role in the founding of ASAP?
Lynch: Along with my dear friend and colleague,
co-founder Bill Lundberg, ASAP's first executive director, we had a dream:
To enlist a team of early-stage alliance pioneers to
build a professional organization that would set alliances on an equal status with other professions. We
understood that those engaged in alliances were a
breed of their own. What alliance people were doing
was based on a set of standards and unique thinking
that set us apart from people in business development, strategic planning, or project management.
To create an organizational structure, including governance, and programs to advance our profession. We
needed a structure that could deliver value that met the
needs of a very unique membership.

To enable ASAP to become a magnet for the evolution
and proliferation of best practices.
To enable members to network with each other, primarily to form new alliances, share experiences, solve
mutual problems, and create new opportunities.
To ensure that the association would be led by corporate
members, while taking advantage of the value added by
thought leaders, educators, and consultants.
De Man: I came in in the early days, but ASAP was
already founded. But as one of the first movers, I was
mainly involved in trying to get ASAP on the agenda in
Europe (and vice versa, I must say). Together with Mike
Nevin and a small group of other pioneers, I organized
various meetings and conferences in Europe to bring
ASAP to a European audience. As I also am an academic, I started the ASAP State of Alliance Management
research series that gathered data about which alliance
management tools were effective, and which were not.
Over the years, we published various studies that all
showed the importance of good alliance management to
create value. After 2003, I got elected to the ASAP global board, was active in the accreditation committee and
the ASAP Alliance Excellence Awards Committee,
co-edited the alliance handbook, etc.-all alongside my
work in Europe and executing five State of Alliance
Management studies between 2000 and 2012. In all
these roles, I encountered people with a great passion
for alliances. I was part of some really fun teams!
Why did you personally invest so much time in
getting ASAP launched?
Lynch: Several factors played into my commitment to
build ASAP.
n

First, I saw the alliance framework as a vehicle for
developing methods to shift the business world
from thinking about commerce as transactional entities (independent "dealers") to a collaborative
system of interdependent value creators in value
chains/networks.

Second, I realized the power of strength in numbers
and common interest. If those engaged in alliances
never communicated, shared, or evolved into a professional network, many good people would be
eaten alive by their own organizations, because others didn't understand what was intended or what
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Q1 * 2018 | STRATEGIC ALLIANCE MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Strategic Alliance Magazine Q1 2018