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An Entrepreneur Who Collaborates to Compete - The Trend of Using Alliance Networks for New Business
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Added: 04/18/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 563 time(s)
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An Entrepreneur Who Collaborates to Compete - The Trend of Using Alliance Networks for New Business
Small business entrepreneur, Victoria Rock, President and founder of Victoria Court Reporting Service, Inc. and Victoria's Transcription Services, has built an alliance network that effectively competes with industry giants. She did this by growing a vibrant network of trusted companies just like hers in other key locations around the country. Over the last decade she has been practicing what she calls "the science of collaboration."
Victoria emphasizes, "As a result of building a vibrant speaking career in my industry, I built a network of people who wanted to work with someone who had similar values and experience I started out with a handful of trusted colleagues who owned similar sized businesses to mine in several cities around the country. It didn't take long for this alliance network to spread as others started to call to see if they could participate."
Victoria continued to grow her alliance network, expanding internationally within the last five years. Today her network reaches to locations as distant as Australia. Because of her ability to build these alliance networks, Victoria has expanded her business dramatically over the past few years now including Fortune 500 companies that appreciate the warm, friendly personal service that comes with a world-class network of technological support.
Victoria's strategies are indicative of many small businesses who are learning the art and science of growing alliance networks to compete more effectively than their larger competitors. Victoria adds, " When calling on the nationwide companies you often get employees who don't have the level of commitment that the small business owner would have.Afte r all, that owner's name is on the line for each job. It's much more personal and effective having this type of network in place for everyone."
Recently, Victoria's efforts have been recognized locally. She has been inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. The Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, the oldest and most prestigious program honoring Chicago-area entrepreneurs, was first presented in 1984 The University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies sponsors the event jointly with Lord, Bissell & Brook, LaSalle Bank, Grant Thornton LLP, and Levy Venture Management. The annual event was held at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, where over 700 particpants honored this year's 26 new inductees.
As the 60 million US small business grow their companies' staff's and offices, they will become more distributed around the world with growing supply chains, distribution channels, external outsourcers, and dispersed customer bases. As they grow they will experience an even greater need to learn how to build strong networks. With tools like LinkedIn(www.linkedin.com ) and Ecademy (www.ecademy.com) , the largest online network in Europe and Asia, small businesses can compete very effectively. Venture capitalists agree with this trend as they pour money into these software platforms with LinkedIn recently receiving $47-million and Spoke following quickly, receiving $11.7-million. Victoria is one entrepreneur who is moving with great speed to take advantage of this alliance growing trend and succeeding at it.
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Poster: Mike
Added: 09/18/2004
Here's a site that gives a pretty good view of the pros and cons of joining
LinkedIn. If you want, the <A href="http://www.luhman.org/gl/article.php/20040918000256936">the author will invite you to join LinkedIn.</A>
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