The news about the Target/CVS partnership is especially exciting if you shop at Target and get your prescriptions at CVS.
What makes this partnership a good deal and what can smaller businesses learn about partnering?
- The health care business is exceedingly complex and requires a knowledgeable workforce to navigate complicated regulations.
- Pharmacies comprised less than 5% of Target’s sales and resulted in negative profitability on the balance sheet.
- Target is big, but its real estate footprint is not as wide as CVS (scale). Plus many CVS locations are open 24/7 giving them an edge in competition.
- Target had other priorities; chasing customers in a highly competitive grocery business requires relentless focus on customer satisfaction.
- Both Target and CVS believe they will benefit from each other’s customers.
Consider the advantages and risks of partnerships:
Advantages | Risks |
Access to knowledge | Loss of autonomy |
Access to resources | Drain on resources (it always takes more money and longer than you think) |
Effectiveness – develop more products and services | Implementation challenges |
Efficiency in operations | Negative reputation impact (when things don’t work out) |
Stability and impact long term | |
Enhanced reputation and credibility |
Are you thinking about partnering? Consider:
- Would the partnership be mutually beneficial?
- Do my customers have unmet (or difficult to meet) needs?
- Do I have trust relationships with potential suppliers of my customers?
- Would I be willing to offer their product or service to my customers under my corporate umbrella?
- Does my company have products or services that are unprofitable and inefficient for us, but might be profitable when done by someone else?
- Do I have under-utilized resources (people, machines, patents, etc.) that someone else could utilize?
Opportunities abound for people who look for them.
Good hunting.
If you enjoyed and found benefit from this blog, please let me know.