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Article Summary Article Summary In Jan . 2002 Dan Villeneuve 's spring water bottling company had an abundance of

s . Because they were doing so well , the company was looking forward to starting

a new production line . A call from Germany , however , changed the plans for expansion

A necessary component of production equipment quit being shipped . The German supplier was concerned about non payment . They refused to deliver unless they first

received a guarantee

Although Villeneuve 's fledging company , Iroquois Water , Ltd , was not in financial difficulty in

fact , the firm was on course to do sales of nearly four million that year and had rapid growth . However , the supplier had recent discovered that since Iroquois resides on native land in 0ntario , repossessing in the event of default was not feasible Villeneuve was unable to pacify his erstwhile supplier . Thus his new multi-million product line was useless

That 's when Villeneuve decided to seek a partner large enough to put his firm past

major financing hurdles and all the other hindrances on the way from start up to sustainability . He looked at Cott Corp based in Toronto . It was the world 's largest

producer of private label soft drinks . His explanations : Cott was a successful company

with 1 .2 billion in annual sales and a large client base he thought Cott could have been

for the partnership as much as Iroquois . Although there had been a world wide decrease

in soft drink sales , bottled water sales were headed in an entirely opposite direction

In to fully realize the perks of a partnership , Villeneuve realized he would have to walk gingerly around the giant . Strategic alliances with a firm much larger than his own

comes with danger . There is the risk of being over dependent on your partner 's business

career , getting lost in the maze . However , participation in this type of alliance can lower

his business 's risks and give accessibility to resources , purchasing and customers of the

partner . Villeneuve had 8 things to do

1 . Command respect . Establish yourself as an equal

2 . Sell yourself . Pitch not what partner can do for you , but what you can do for

partner

3 . Don 't sell yourself out

4 . Know what you want

5 . Hire the help needed

6 . Make a legal binding contract

7 . Build in a process for dealing with problems

8 . Make certain your secrets are secure Don 't put all eggs in 1 basket . Diversify . You can 't rely on your partner to bring you business When They Act in Bad Faith When your counterpart acts in bad faith , stop the negotiation . If you are unable

to trust their negotiating , you will be unable to trust their agreement In this case

negotiating is of little or no value

Pursuing relationships with much larger businesses often starts from a weaker

negotiating position . Think through in advance what you want so you don 't bend

too much . You must have a strong sense of identity and a well conceived...