Everyone is a customer : a proven method for measuring the value of every relationship in the era of collaborative business

Collaboration may be the most important concept in business today. A recent search for the term on the Internet turned up thousands and thousands of business-related references. Yet in March 2000, while researching our last book, Collaborative Communities: Partnering for Profit in the Networked Economy, a similar online search came up with just a few references, and they mainly related to cooperative housing and academic or intellectual collaboration. So why the sudden attention to collaboration? The answer is simple. Collaboration is important because we live our lives and conduct our business in an increasingly connected and interdependent world. Collaboration is how work gets done when we can?t get it done alone. In our personal lives as consumers, whenever we have the financial wherewithal, we rely on an increasing number of specialists to help us with our needs. In war, we form alliances for very specific advantages. In business, more and more companies understand that to truly succeed in ourglobal and networked economy, growth and profits come through true partnerships with all our varied constituencies.