CGCP was set up in 2000 by a group of businessmen and a professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. Last year, alliance specialist, Dr Ard-Pieter de Man (34) was appointed chief executive officer of CGCP. Dr De Man is also a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Management at Maastricht University (Strategy section).
According to Ard-Pieter de Man research has shown that 35% of the stock market value of companies is due to alliances. "Information about strategic alliances often forms the basis for major management and investment decisions by Executive Boards, management, analysts and investors," he added.

Database
CGCP has its own database management system containing the most recent information about international alliances, joint ventures, networks and partnerships. Ard-Pieter de Man: "We consult various sources, such as news services, newspapers and the Internet, and draw on scientific research, studies and reports. In total our database contains some 7,000 alliances."

CGCP concentrates on high tech business with wide-ranging activities in strategic, industrial and commercial fields. These are companies engaged in information technology, telecom and biotechnology, usually multinationals. Ard-Pieter de Man: "Companies in these sectors are the most dynamic with regard to the number of alliances formed. In view of technological developments over the last ten years, we expect the level of activity in these segments to remain very high in future decades. We not only trace contractual alliances, but also minority interests, including shareholding. There is a great deal of interest in this combination, particularly from investors and multinationals."

Maps
The service provided by CGCP is unique in the world. The alliances in the database are depicted in the form of maps. These maps draw the interrelationships between companies. Shareholders' relationships, such as minority interests, can be viewed at a single glance. Besides visualisations, the maps display overviews of selected alliances, such as the start-up year, objectives and activities.

Companies and private individuals can subscribe to sectors. A business subscription costs around € 3,000 per sector. Individual maps are also available for € 59 each on a pay per view basis via the website (€ 10 in the introduction period). Ard-Pieter de Man: "We also carry out customised research at the request of companies and license our visualization software."

Joining forces to survive
A good example of a sector in which alliances are playing an increasingly important role is the pharmaceutical industry. Ard-Pieter De Man: "The rate at which technology is developing particularly in this sector is so high that it is practically impossible for one company to keep up on its own. Working in an alliance provides a solution. Ensuring continual updates of knowledge and know-how is another major problem. Nobody nowadays has all the technological expertise it needs in house. You have to look elsewhere.
"The huge costs of research and development are another important aspect. By forming an alliance, costs and risks are divided among the partners involved. For small companies which have recently started business, a joint venture may be essential for survival."

CGCP works in Europe (Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden) and the United States. "Step by step we are arriving on the market", Ard-Pieter de Man added.

About CGCP
The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP) is an internationally operating knowledge centre in the field of strategic alliances, joint ventures, minority interests, networks and partnerships. CGCP's research, marketing and sales activities are focused on information technology (computers, Internet, micro-electronics, software), telecom and biotechnology (gene technology, proteomics, bio-informatics). CGCP's service is particularly directed at analysts and investors, business, organisations and competition authorities.
CGCP has developed its own database management system which is continually updated and expanded by means of daily research into international news sources and scientific research. The database contains around 7,000 alliances.
CGCP's core activity consists of the development and sale of maps. These maps are schematic visualisations of existing international, national or regional alliances in the field of information technology, telecom and biotechnology.

CGCP's service is - via its website - interactive and client-oriented, up-to-date and permanently available, user-friendly and fast. Clients can subscribe to industrial sectors or buy single maps (pay per view). Consultancy services are also available for companies.

The Centre for Global Corporate Positioning (CGCP) was founded in 2001 and is located in Amsterdam.

For more information, including CGCP's interactive services: see CGCP's website (www.cgcpmaps.com)