Collaborative Ventures

The past several years have been difficult ones for many U.S. corporations. They have had to accommodate unfamiliar technologies, defend their home markets against heightened foreign competition and, in many cases, reexamine fundamental assumptions on what markets they are in and who their chief competitors are. More than a few managements were caught off guard by this barrage of new challenges—especially coming as it did at a time when business was focusing its attention on regulatory pressures and a prolonged economic downturn.