Reinventing Corporate Growth, G. Slowinski; Reviewed by J. Colannino

Honestly, I was unprepared for how good this book is. I wish I had read it five years ago when it was first published, and I wish it were published 20 years ago. That would have been much easier than learning the hard way, from experience.

We all know that firms grow in two ways -- organically, and by merger and acquisition (M&A). But we are all wrong. Firms grow also by alliance -- what Slowinski calls transformational growth or t-growth. The concept is as simple as it is overlooked: firms at the margins of your industry would benefit enormously by linking with your firm; and your firm would fare even better, because breakthrough innovation comes at the margins where "disciplines collide."

The book is organized into ten chapters. Chapter 1, The Transformational Growth Imperative shows why an alliance strategy is essential for growth in modern firms. Chapter 2, "Identifying the Organization's 'Wants'", begins Part 1 of the book: the Want, Find, Get, Manage (WFGM) framework.

Part 1 is developed through several more chapters: Chapter 3, "Finding the Technology the Firm Wants"; Chapter 4, "Getting the Technology: The Alliance Framework"; and Chapter 5, "Managing the On-Going Relationship". Chapter 6, "Working with the Venture Capital Community", begins Part 2 of the book, and is devoted to analyzing and inspecting the venture capital community (VCC). The VCC and its proper relationship to your firm is fleshed out in three more chapters: Chapter 7, "Building a Venture Capital Capability"; Chapter 8, "Outlicensing and the Fundamentals of Intellectual Asset Value Creation"; and Chapter 9, "Becoming the Partner of Choice". A "Conclusion" follows in Chapter 10.

But why should you work with VCs? Because they are plugged into the market space in exactly the opposite way you are: they are the early adopter of a technology that is more valuable to you than to them; they, unlike your firm, are adept at finding breakthrough technology; they have breakthrough technology but, unlike your firm, need a channel; you, unlike their firm, have a channel but need more breakthrough technology; and, they want to cash out precisely at the point you want to buy in.

I have spent the last 20 years of my life assisting in M&A valuations, developing and safeguarding intellectual property, and structuring alliances and ventures. Through both positive and (unfortunately) negative experiences, I can personally validate much of the wisdom contained in Slowinski's book. As Slowinski's states, "The failure mode begins when individuals inside the partner firm do not agree inside the firm and do not know that they disagree. (195)" "Complex tasks such as coordinating resources across corporate boundaries, integrating different skill sets between firms and resolving cultural differences are formidable barriers. (197)" Formidable yes, insurmountable, no. And Slowinski's book sets about articulating valuable solutions. For one thing, not all the important parties have been allowed to weigh in on the agreement. For another, hidden disagreement has to be actively hunted and exposed BEFORE approaching an alliance partner. Yes, I can already hear the objection: "But if I did that, the agreement might collapse." Perhaps... but only if the agreement never made much sense to begin with from one or more important perspectives. And wouldn't it be better to find that out earlier rather than later, behind closed doors, before approaching an important partner or losing credibility externally?

And speaking of intellectual property, why shouldn't you license some of your technology to your competitors? Well, because they'll use that technology to compete against you. Yes, fair enough. But perhaps they already are, and you aren't looking carefully enough to find it. If violations exist, a licensing agreement should be pretty easy to negotiate. But why license? Well, maybe you shouldn't. But if you did, you could avoid an expensive and unpredictable lawsuit, you would obtain an ongoing transfer of wealth from their bottom line to yours, and your competitor would handicap its own R&D efforts. Why? Because, as Slowinski states "Technology licensed in = capability driven out" (183). Part of the loss comes from from cost-cutting to pay for the royalty. Part of the loss comes from demotivation and demoralization of your competitor's R&D group.

If this is a different style of thinking than you have been exposed to, then you would do well to read this book; and if you already know all this, please write another. As good as this book is (and I think it is stellar), a single book in this area is too few.