Unless you’ve been holidaying on the moon for the last month or so you can’t fail to have noticed the arrival in town of President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron, Chancellor Merkel et al for the Nato summit.

Whatever your views on both the role of Nato in the wider world and the more local disruption and cost of hosting the summit it is difficult to deny that Nato represents one of the best examples of a strategic alliance bringing countries together to work towards a common goal.

Strategic alliances are also becoming more and more common in business as a recognised way of driving the significant growth of a company without committing it to expensive internal expansion.

Why form a strategic alliance?

There are obvious advantages an alliance can bring in terms of economies of scale, scope and speed from buying in bulk together to each partner providing its expertise and/or resources to build a product together. Alliances are also often formed for joint marketing, sales and distribution purposes to increase market penetration and enhance competiveness and/or brand awareness in both domestic and global markets helping businesses expand and diversify while minimising their risk.

What form does an alliance take?

Strategic alliances can range from an informal business relationship with a simple contract between the parties involved to a formal joint venture for legal and tax purposes where a new partnership or limited company is created.

As always getting good advice early on in the process is crucial. Speak to us at UHY Hacker Young, we’re experts at advising on the best form of a strategic alliance and with our network of offices across 88 countries we can also help and advise when the goal of the alliance is to expand internationally.