AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 14, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP) in Amsterdam is the first company in the world to introduce strategic alliances on maps. Via a subscription or pay per view system, companies and individuals can buy information about international partnerships in the strategic, commercial and industrial fields, thereby strengthening their competitive positions. CGCP focuses on companies involved in information technology, telecom and biotechnology.
The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning was set up in 2000 by a group of businessmen and a professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. Last year, alliance specialist, Dr. Ard-Pieter de Man (34) was appointed chief executive officer of CGCP. Dr De Man is also a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Management at Maastricht University (Strategy section).
"Research has shown that 35% of the stock market value of companies is due to alliances. Information about strategic alliances often forms the basis for major management and investment decisions by Executive Boards, management, analysts and investors," according to Ard-Pieter de Man.
Database
CGCP has its own database management system containing the most recent information about international alliances, joint ventures, networks and partnerships. "We consult various sources, such as news services, newspapers and the Internet, and draw on scientific research, studies and reports. In total our database contains some 7,000 alliances." CGCP concentrates on high tech business with wide-ranging activities in strategic, industrial and commercial fields. These are companies engaged in information technology, telecom and biotechnology, usually multinationals.
Dr. De Man: "Companies in these sectors are the most dynamic with regard to the number of alliances formed. In view of technological developments over the last ten years, we expect the level of activity in these segments to remain very high in future decades. We not only trace contractual alliances, but also minority interests, including shareholding. There is a great deal of interest in this combination, particularly from investors and multinationals."
Maps
The service provided by CGCP is unique in the world. The alliances in the database are depicted in the form of maps. These maps draw the interrelationships between companies. Shareholders' relationships, such as minority interests, can be viewed at a single glance. Besides visualisations, the maps display overviews of selected alliances, such as the start-up year, objectives and activities. Companies and private individuals can subscribe to sectors. A business subscription costs around 3,000 Euros per sector. Individual maps are also available for 59 Euros each on a pay per view basis via the website (10 Euros in the introduction period). "We also carry out customized research at the request of companies and license our visualization software."
Joining Forces to Survive
A good example of a sector in which alliances are playing an increasingly important role is the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. De Man: "The rate at which technology is developing particularly in this sector is so high that it is practically impossible for one company to keep up on its own. Working in an alliance provides a solution. Ensuring continual updates of knowledge and know-how is another major problem. Nobody nowadays has all the technological expertise it needs in house. You have to look elsewhere. The huge costs of research and development are another important aspect. By forming an alliance, costs and risks are divided among the partners involved. For small companies which have recently started business, a joint venture may be essential for survival."
The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning works in Europe (Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden) and the United States. "Step by step we are arriving on the market," said Ard-Pieter de Man.
(photo) Dr. Ard-Pieter de Man, chief executive officer of the Centre for Global Corporate Positioning, CGCP (photo free of copyright Ben Balster. This photo and/or maps of alliances are available by e-mail or may be requested on: +31 (0)297 566 883).
Enclosures:
-- Company profile of the Centre for Global Corporate Positioning
(CGCP)
-- Dr. Ard-Pieter de Man
Company Profile of the Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP)
The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP) is an internationally operating knowledge centre in the field of strategic alliances, joint ventures, minority interests, networks and partnerships. CGCP's research, marketing and sales activities are focused on information technology (computers, Internet, micro-electronics, software), telecom and biotechnology (gene technology, proteomics, bio-informatics). CGCP's service is particularly directed at analysts and investors, business, organisations and competition authorities.
CGCP has developed its own database management system which is continually updated and expanded by means of daily research into international news sources and scientific research. The database contains around 7,000 alliances.
CGCP's core activity consists of the development and sale of maps. These maps are schematic visualisations of existing international, national or regional alliances in the field of information technology, telecom and biotechnology.
CGCP's service is - via the website www.cgcpmaps.com - interactive and client-oriented, up-to-date and permanently available, user-friendly and fast. Clients can subscribe to industrial sectors or buy single maps (pay per view). Consultancy services are also available for companies.
The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP) was founded in 2001 and is located in Amsterdam.
Dr. Ard-Pieter de Man
Dr Ard-Pieter de Man was born in Dirksland, the Netherlands (1967). He studied Business Management, specializing in financial-economic management, and then went on to study Economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam where he was also a lecturer in the Strategy department. He is currently a senior lecturer, in the Strategy section, linked to the faculty of Economics and Business Management at Maastricht University. From 1996 tot 2001 he worked as an organization consultant in the field of organizational structuring and strategy at the Nolan Norton Institute/KPMG. Ard-Pieter de Man is the author of seven books on the subjects of organization, strategy, alliances and networks. In 1999 De Man was the winner of the Professional Publication Prize awarded by the Council of Organization Consultancy Firms (ROA). His book 'Concurreren door Organiseren' (Competing by Organizing) was voted the Management Book of the Year 2001. Dr. De Man is vice-chairman of the European Chapter of the Associations of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) and guest speaker at various congresses, seminars and courses. Dr Ard-Pieter de Man has been chief executive officer of the Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP) since 2001.