There are a number of companies struggling to figure out how to survive the recession and emerge from wreckage stronger than before. A recent Business Insider
piece highlighted that for many companies – surviving the recession is dependent upon collaboration.
Veteran companies operating in data collection to design to manufacturing to supply and more have been coming up with new ways to collaborate with each other and the public in order to cut costs and develop new ideas.
AOL (News 
- Alert) was one company stuck in transition, trying to move to an ad-supported business model. To do so, the company acquired the experimental network of Patch websites to invigorate the local ad news business.
Patch reports cover Town Hall, fires, the police blotter, high school sports, community theater and other local developments, all from home. AOL can plan to make money from this collaboration by cutting costs. There is no paper product, one low-paid editor and a few freelancer for all revenues have very low cost to cover.
GE is trying to promote collaboration through its Ecomagination Challenge. This open call to action for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students was designed to seek breakthrough ideas to create a cleaner, more efficient and economically viable power grid, while also accelerating the adoption of smart grid technologies. GE and partners are pledging $200 million in capital to be invested globally on promising startups and ideas.
The next collaboration project is the Carbon Disclosure Project. This collaboration of more than 315 investors with assets under management of more than $41 trillion began a "Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration" with Cadbury Schweppes at the end of 2007. As a result of this collaboration, Cadbury Schweppes’ supply chain began to report carbon footprints and climate-relevant information, including greenhouse gas emissions data, emissions reduction targets and climate change strategy.
For its part, Proctor & Gamble launched a new supplier scorecard and rating system that is designed to measure and improve the environmental sustainability of its 75,000 suppliers. This scorecard is designed to measure P&G suppliers’ energy use, water use, waste disposal and greenhouse gas emissions on a year-to-year basis.
Zooppa, a global social network designed for creative talent that crowdsource advertising, survived the recession by partnering with companies to launch as contests for cash prizes. As of May 2010, more than 70 brands have launched crowdsource advertising campaigns on Zoopa’s platform.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Tammy Wolf
