750 words for the first and 200 for 2nd part

Write a 750 word essay on the following questions:

This is an exercise in thinking about the concept of strategic partnerships. If you were advising the US Postal Service on seeking out strategic partners to help them augment their e-commerce strategies and overall value proposition, which strategic partners would you choose and why? What role would the strategic partner play in the overall value proposition of the Postal Service. What value would you hope to be generated from this collaboration? (See the sources of value creation in e-business model in Exhibit 4.3 and the value chain model on Exhibit 4.6). How might the Postal Service effectively negotiate to convince such strategic partners to ally with them in an overall competitive initiative? How might a “win-win” be created for both companies. Also view the TED Video on Open Source Economics to incorporate the notion of Open Source Innovation as a form of strategic partnership.

2nd part-200 words

What strategic insights might be gained from such models that may not be self-evident to business strategists within a given company?