ABSTRACT
Alliance professionals have the responsibility to ensure effective governance of the relationship, protect their firm's interests and maximize long-term value for the partner firms. This chapter starts by exploring the uniqueness of alliance professionals and details the hierarchal positions and alliance roles. It focuses on alliance manager's traits and competences and presents managerial guidelines. An alliance manager's unique perspective has been asserted to originate from unique cognitive attributes. The chapter explains three hierarchical levels: operational, middle management and executive level, and details three associated alliance jobs: alliance manager, senior alliance manager and the alliance director. The Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) offers an alliance management certification programme providing ASAP members with the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of core alliance skills and the management of all forms of collaborative business relationships. The chapter concludes with some points of interest and a case illustration of an Alliance Director.
