by Scott Baumler
Extension economist
Iowa State University Extension to Communities
Did you know that thumb wrestling can provide insights into complex human behavior? Try this experiment.
Have a group of people pair off. The individuals will thumb wrestle each other for one minute. Once a pin is made the players immediately start the next match, keeping track of the number of wins each achieves. At the end of the minute, the person with the highest number of victories out of the entire group gets a cash prize.
Chances are, most of the bouts will be grueling battles that devour precious seconds Ð- and very few pins will occur. However, this will be an easy exercise for the astute players. Working together, two players can take turns pinning each other. At the end of the period, they each have a very high score and split the prize money.
Sound simple? Actually, management gurus get paid big money to come up with team-building exercises like this. Even if it is a bit trite, this example does offer some good lessons about human behavior. When given a task that appears to have a competitive solution, we often overlook collaborative options.
Many businesses, however, are rediscovering the strength of collaboration. For example, last March Wal-Mart and Carmike Cinemas signed a joint venture agreement to develop family entertainment centers. The first centers are planned for Indiana and Illinois, and will include a movie theater, skating rink, arcade, restaurant and a variety of other family-oriented attractions. These two giants plan a complementary relationship: Carmike is the largest movie exhibitor in the nation, so they know the entertainment business. Due to store upgrades and relocations, Wal-Mart has available real estate. This venture will allow the company to productively use stores that are now vacant.
Of course, you do not need to be a commercial titan to realize the benefits of collective action. In New England, a group of small firms have banded together to create the Vermont Wedding and Event Connection. The goal is to provide comprehensive wedding and event planning services, building on basic business interconnections. Components include catering, floristry, photography, canopy rental, coach services, entertainment, beverages and formal wear.
They are independent business people who have found that strategic alliances make them more competitive on the next level of operation. They have ratcheted-up their ability to compete with larger firms or bigger cities by working together.
Synergy, a term used to describe a situation where the effect of multiple entities working together is greater than the sum of the individual efforts, sounds like a new-age management buzzword. Actually, its common usage dates back to the 17th century. It is not a new concept, but organizations of all sizes, types and locations are finding new ways to employ synergistic efforts aimed at improving performance. For businesses, these efforts range from store hour policies to joint advertising to information sharing between suppliers and retailers.
Last year the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) urged retail cooperation to sell more beef. With a series of educational and promotional materials for grocers, Chuck Schroeder of the NCBA said, "When we show them NCBA efforts to help market the product, they see even more value in helping us in this expanded effort. We'll continue to encourage this cooperative process to market more beef."
This type of cooperation is a little like a three-legged race: coordinating as best you can with the one you are tied to, in a joint effort to compete effectively. Parochial cooperation to compete more effectively globally could be termed "coopetition."
Trust, dedication, mutual interest and an awareness of interdependencies seem to be crucial ingredients for successful collaboration. It can be a delicate balancing act to find the right combinations, but collaborative opportunities abound. True entrepreneurs are very quick to give a "thumbs up" to win-win strategies. Whether the you are talking about the business sector or the community at large, sometimes it just takes a little "wrestling" to figure it out.
Contacts:
Terry L. Besser, ISU
Extension Sociology, (515) 294-6508
Del Marks, ISU Extension
Communication Systems, (515) 294-9807
