Publishing: Establishing & Managing Partnerships and Relationships

Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
Information Media Partners
Establishing & Building
Strategic Partnerships

Introduction
Michael Cairns is a publishing and media executive with over 25 years experience in
business strategy, operations and technology implementation. As a business
executive, Mr. Cairns has successfully managed several troubled and under-
performing businesses, creating new business opportunities, developing new funding
sources and enhancing shareholder value for investors. His years spent as an
operating executive have largely been with brand-name publishing companies such
as Macmillan, Inc., Berlitz International, Wolters Kluwer Health, Reed Elsevier and
R.R. Bowker. As a consultant, Mr. Cairns has worked with clients as diverse as
AARP, Hewlett Packard, InterPublic Companies and Reed Elsevier with an emphasis
on business strategy, market development and corporate development.
His skills and experience include:
 Business and corporate strategy development and implementation
 Operations management and business transformation
 Traditional and digital publishing and operations
 Print-to-digital transformation and adoption of new business models
 Software development and software services
Mr. Cairns holds an MBA (Finance) from Georgetown University and a BA from
Boston University. He has served on several boards and advisory groups including
the Association of American Publishers, Book Industry Study Group and the
International ISBN organization. Additionally, he has public and private company
board experience.
2
Michael Cairns
Strategy Consulting
New York, London, Melbourne
Tel: 908 938 4889
Michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com
Find me:
LinkedIn

Michael Cairns established Information Media Partners in 2006 as a boutique strategy
consulting firm focused on the information and education publishing segment. The work
conducted by the firm includes product development, corporate development, sales
management and corporate reorganizations. We work with established businesses, private
equity owners and potential acquirers.
Examples of our work include:
 Reorganized and re-focused a $25 million software publishing company by aligning
business operations with client priorities; implementing internal collaboration tools and
project management standards; re-building executive team to focus on effective and
efficient management
 Defined a new business strategy for a large non-profit association and advocacy group,
expanding their business model into global markets to exploit their core knowledge and
expertise across a broader market
 Led an information technology capabilities review at a large international advertising
holding company. Completed over 200 interviews in 15 international offices and multiple
group focus sessions to define the operational ‘gaps’ between existing agency capabilities
and those necessary and important for client delivery by region
 Completed a sales management effectiveness review for a global software company and
defined six key project initiatives to improve sales effectiveness, market development and
account management
We approach our client engagements in a standardized, logical manner which creates the best
environment to identify key business drivers, administrative and logistical road blocks and/or
product or market definition issues. Our investigative approach leads to better insights into
your businesses and supports the development of workable solutions and recommendations
for success.
Visit the Information Media Partners website for more information.
Sample Client List

Why Partnerships?
 Expand markets
 Build experience and capabilities
 Grow revenues
 Broaden product lines
 Strengthen vendor/supplier relationships
 Improve products
 Reduce operating risk
 Improve technology
4

Essential requirements
 “Must” have an active desire to work together:
Mutual interest in specific success/outcomes
 Partner must have market/product experience
 Should be willing to motivate sales staff to sell
partner products
 Invest in internal training, marketing & literature to
support partner products
 Partner should be willing to work collaboratively
 Provide full service and support to customers
 Must have stable management/relationship

How mature is your business?
 Functions well defined?
 Processes efficient and economical
 Management team properly motivated
 Management and staff understand objectives
 Do you have documentation?
 Do you have shareable knowledge and
expertise?
 Do your staff have time to manage partners?
6

Understand where your business is

Reasons to consider partnerships
Structural drivers
 Globalization
 Homogenization of
markets
 Fierce competition
Technological drivers
 Cost of R&D
 Complexity of
products
 Speed of
technological
developments

Best Practices in Building Partnerships
 Common objectives
 Communication
 Governance structures
 Stakeholder involvement
 Training opportunities

Partnerships characteristics
 Essential part of international corporate strategies
 Make up for the lack of economic power,
competence, foreign experience
 Allows cost- and risk- sharing
 Market intelligence to monitor new markets and
monitor particular fields of technology
 Reduce lead times for innovative products
 To access competitively priced resources (labour)
 Technology transfer

Common objectives
 Document partnership with Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU)
 Clearly outline each party’s commitment, both financial and in-
kind
 Gain agreement internally for partnership program:
Staff, management, board of directors, existing
customers
 Identify potential partners and establish relationships
 “Test” relationship if possible
 Meet and visit partners
 Determine capabilities of the partner: Speak to other
partners/supplier to the partner
 Agree common objectives with the partner
 Define specific goals for agreement process
 Set time limit for initial agreement

Communication
 Establish clear goals with partner and communication
internally and externally
 Ongoing communication with all stakeholders (partner,
management, customers, etc.)
 Full-time project co-ordinator or facilitator
• Works for the partnership project
• Point of contact for stakeholders
 Development of common tools for information sharing
with stakeholders as well as with greater audiences
 Frequent meetings: updates, strategy sessions, product
development
 Share marketing and promotion materials and objectives
 Websites, web portals, etc.
 Social networking sites

Governance structures
 Provide a clear, well-developed governance
structure (e.g. steering committee, sub-committees,
working groups – as appropriate)
 Use a decision-making process that incorporates all
stakeholders
 Ensuring the active participation of all stakeholders at the
table
 Ensure conflict resolution mechanisms are in place
 Managing competing interests and priorities in the
partnership
 Develop performance evaluation frameworks in
collaboration with stakeholders
 Ensuring that the deliverables and activities are carried
out according to schedule

Stakeholder involvement
 Define roles and responsibilities for all partners at the
start
 Ensure the active participation of all stakeholders over
the course of the project
 Establish common goals and priorities in consultation
with stakeholders
 Delegate tasks according to capacity and expertise
 Share resources equitably, and ensure a reasonable
“buy-in” on the project from the partners
 Cash or in-kind contributions, including:
• Personnel
• Access to facilities or facilitating interaction with other
organizations/communities
• Knowledge mobilization activities

Training opportunities
 Ensure the meaningful involvement of key staff
 Working with partnering organizations
 Hands-on skills
 Ensure capacity-building and learning by:
 Integrating partnering organizations into project
plans
• For example, training personnel from partnering
organizations to conduct interviews, organize
events, present at conferences, etc.
 Fostering the exchange of knowledge and expertise
between all the stakeholders of the project

Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
Developing a Partnership

Key challenges:
Understand differences in:
 Education/Training/Experience
 Infrastructure
 Financial Resources/Economic Power
 Culture

Developing a partnership project
 Plan to ensure the sustainability of the partnership
 Set realistic, attainable goals (but be flexible)
 Validate objectives and plans with the stakeholders even in the
development phases
 Enable a process for the partner to provide active feedback to allow
for changes in activities and processes
 An assessment or self-assessment mechanism that allows the team to
evaluate its activities and the quality of the partnership
 Ensure that the project has the necessary stakeholders on board to
successfully achieve its goals
 Continue to recruit new partners over the course of the project
 Identify potential interested partners through networking opportunities,
including:
• External events
• Contacts in the field
• Existing projects and partnerships
• Social networking

Building consensus/negotiation
 What are the possible and desirable outcomes?
 Clearly determine each party’s need(s) from the
partnership
 Clearly understand the strategic objectives of the
companies
 Partner choice and negotiation
 Identify a champion to lead the relationship
 Treat the partnership agreement as a living
document
 Understand that the comparative advantages of
partners at the outset of the agreement may change
over time

Disputes
 Partnership agreements must contain sound
provisions for dispute resolution, and the exit
mechanism to be employed in terminating the
partnership in the event of irreconcilable
differences

Planning stage
 Rules on assigning sales credit and market
development and support
 Establishing rules for data (including format,
quality assurance, storage, access and retrieval)
 How to synchronize funding from different
sources
 Costs of collaboration

Sensitive issues
 Be aware that technology transfer is one of the
most sensitive and contentious issues
 Create clear provisions for a framework of
technology use in the partnership
 Concerns on ownership, IP and control
 Management of IP can present serious barriers
to the development and maintenance of
partnerships

Design appropriate organization
 Joint ventures
 Joint R&D pacts
 Joint development agreements
 R&D pacts
 R&D contracts
 Second-sourcing
 Licensing

Implementation summary
 Monitor and review the partnership throughout
its lifetime
 Phased projects with achievable milestones
 Start with a pilot project
 Project monitoring across national boundaries,
how to manage these?
 Scheduling regular face-to-face meetings
 Communicate often
 Rotating leadership
 Human resource issues

Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
Business Cases

Ingenta: Establish re-seller market
 Sell Ingenta software products in different markets,
geographies and verticals through 3rd parties
 Transform operations in line with a product
organisation, from a systems integrator/bespoke
software company
 Introduce a “product” culture, focusing on
collaboration, internally & with partners – make
everyone feel they are part of the process and
decision making
 Use technology to benefit our own organisation, not
just our customers
 Become “leading” edge

Reseller requirements
 “Must” have an active desire to sell the product not
to just become another product on a list
 Must be skilled in selling software systems that have
a long sales cycle
 Willing to commission the salespeople on 3rd party
products, plus invest in internal training, marketing &
literature
 Willing to collaborate: Help Ingenta increase level of
“business/product maturity”
 Must have a desire to deliver all professional
services
 Must have stable management/relationship with
Ingenta

Reseller program strategic benefits
Reseller and
partnership
models
represent a
significant
strategic
opportunity
Skills
Enhanced skill sets
Reduced risk
Sales
Joint business development, opens doors previously
closed
Large balance sheet removes ‘size’ obstacle from the
sales process
Scale
Number of concurrent implementations
Geographic spread
Market segment spread – magazines, newspapers,
gaming
Margin
Reseller will be primary relationship with the customer
License and maintenance revenue direct with Ingenta
Subject matter expertise at sold at higher than historic
day rates.
Costs
Opportunity to reduce non-value added costs
Create more efficiently run projects
Free up higher revenue generating resources

Bowker and Barnes & Noble
 Bowker:
 Book information data provider to retailers,
publishers and search companies
 ISBN agency for US
 Services provider: PubNet (EDI), PubEasy
 Barnes & Noble
 Largest US based book retailer
 College bookstore market

Shared objectives
 Improve quality of book data
 Extend amount and type of book metadata
 Reduce cost of data management
 Rapid increase in amount of data (number of
books published)
 Global market expansion
 Deepen communication between vendor
(Bowker), customer (B&N) and data owner
(Publishers)

Partnership: Data Enhancement Program
 Established a joint communication program to
publishers
 Document data requirements
 Establish open communications
 Site visits with Bowker staff
• More open and accessible process
 Web interface and data access point
 B&N ‘forced’ publishers to work with Bowker
 Charged publishers for bad data
 Included Bowker in B&N publisher status meetings

Partnership benefits
 Bowker:
 Expanded “Data Enhancement” model to Canada
(Indigo Books), Australia (Angus & Robertsons),
Follet Books (US) and Borders Books (US) + others
 Enabled the establishment of standard processes
 Significantly improved relationships with publishers
 Barnes & Noble
 Better, consistent book data
 Improved processes
 Lower costs

Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
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Publishing: Establishing & Managing Partnerships and Relationships

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