Key business relationships

An organisation's relationships with its customers, key suppliers and joint venture partners are critical to its profitability and long-term success; and a lot of energy and effort goes into promoting positive ongoing relationships, as is evidenced by the growth in customer relationship management systems and strategic alliance initiatives.

However, many of these expensively built structures and project plans run the risk of being de-railed by future tensions - with insufficient attention paid to working relationships, and a traditional adversarial negotiation approach leading to battles to divide the spoils rather than foster collaborative value creation.

CEDR works with our clients to ensure that they get the most from their business relationships, creating lasting loyalty, maximising lifetime relationship value and ensuring that opportunities are not wasted, or risks exacerbated through poor conflict management strategies.

To meet the challenges, our bespoke solutions include:

• CEDR’s 'Relationship audit' provides a 360-degree review of the quality of a key business relationship, or group of relationships, with particular emphasis on assessing the effectiveness of dialogue and mutual responses to conflict opportunities.  This is particularly useful for organisations seeking to gain a deeper insight into the quality of their relationships with key business partners, and to identify any pressure points that may exist.
• CEDR’s 'Deal mediation' provides neutral support to organisations seeking to work together as partners and promote long-term relationship and growth, helping both sides negotiate complex business relationships which will stand the test of time. 
• CEDR’s 'Project mediation' provides ongoing support to ensure the early identification and management of problems before they escalate into damaging disputes.  This is particularly useful for organisations in established alliances or long-term contractual relationships, particularly those which are established to achieve a particular project.
• CEDR’s ‘Personal development’ solutions can provide the necessary skills and long-term support to ensure that future dealings foster relationships and promote a sense of partnership rather than result in mistrust and dissatisfaction.  This can be particularly useful for executives responsible for the negotiation and ongoing maintenance of key business relationships.
  
  

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