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Collaborative networking can take many forms. From strategic alliances and partnerships to business networks, development networks or even regional and national collaboration.
These involve businesses working together for specific purposes where the collaboration has identifiable and measurable benefits to all participants in the network. Key features of a business network are:
These are the most basic forms of networks consisting simply of businesses associating with other businesses. Their activity is often confined to:
These networks are usually informal and unstructured. They are also less likely to have a purpose linked directly to financial gain or competitive advantage for the members.
These are geographically defined groups of companies, educational institutions, local councils and economic development agencies connected by linkages across sectors. They can make up business clusters which share a common regional location, where 'region' is defined as:
Regional networks often bring benefits to businesses but this is not always their sole purpose. They are often motivated by broader goals of regional and national economic development. Find Northern Ireland business networks.
Some common forms of collaboration networks include:
With technology and many industries changing rapidly, ways of collaborative networking continue to evolve. The key thing to remember is that all businesses behave differently and that successful business collaboration doesn't rely on a single definitive model.
The ultimate aim of collaborative networking, in whatever shape it takes, is to gain access to skilled labour, additional resources and opportunities for sharing ideas and growing profit. See more on the benefits of business collaboration.