Detecon Study: Partnering a Growth Driver on Saturated Telecommunications Markets

Telecommunications companies have a high regard for partnerships - both within the industry as well as across industry boundaries - as a strategic alternative to corporate acquisitions. The management consultancy Detecon has conducted an international study involving 25 telecommunications companies worldwide and examined the preferred partnership mix and the state of development in partner management. In the course of the study, it became clear that partnering is regarded as an important strategic measure for corporate development. Nevertheless, almost half of the respondents did not reach the desired profit contribution. Internal as well as partner-related barriers were identified as the reasons for this lack of success. The Detecon study points out key factors for profitable partner management and elucidates concrete recommendations for action.

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High significance of innovation and sales partnerships  

In general, the number of partnerships has grown rapidly over the last three years, especially for over-the-top content and streaming services or in the sector of the Internet of Things (IoT). Innovation partnerships of this nature are viewed as important by 76% of the telco companies, followed closely by sales and marketing partnerships at 72%. Service partnerships are regarded as important for 36%. Purchasing partnerships are also relevant for 24%. "This confirms our core hypothesis, namely, that telcos are looking above all for growth from partnering," emphasized Dr. Christian Krämer, Managing Consultant at Detecon and expert for corporate cooperative ventures, in commenting on the results of the study. "That is why they tend to prefer types of cooperation that have a strong impact on revenue. And innovation and sales and marketing partnerships are especially likely to do just that."

Exploiting the potential for earnings more extensively
Increased revenue is the most important motive for partnering for 84% of the respondents. Two-thirds of the companies want to increase the share of sales from cooperative ventures within the next three years. "Despite all the focus on sales, the return must not be neglected," stated Krämer. For more than half of the respondents (52%), the return on sales from partnerships is still less than 2%. The other 48% demonstrate that a higher profit jump is possible. "These companies are already posting returns on sales of 3% to 5% through partnering. This level is the benchmark," said Krämer.

The "International Detecon Partnering Study" can be downloaded at http://www.detecon.com/en/partneringstudy.

 
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SOURCE Detecon International GmbH