What is a strategic partner. Basic research

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The article examines the author's approach to building and developing entrepreneurial networks through the prism of strategic partnership. The analysis of various approaches to the definition of entrepreneurial networks in the context of globalization of the world economy and markets is carried out, the conceptual apparatus is updated. It is shown that entrepreneurial networks are currently one of the most common forms of integration interaction of business entities in international economic practice. The classification of the levels of creating entrepreneurial networks is given. Particularly noted is such a form of network interaction of entrepreneurial structures as a cluster, in which each of the participants realizes their strategic goals, while the cluster is an innovative form organizational culture allowing network members to develop effectively based on the balance of economic interests of strategic partners. There is a lot of factual material in the work. The authors' conclusions are supported by a practical example of the development of entrepreneurial networks in the field of hospitality... The TOP-10 world leaders of hotel chains are shown.

network organization

entrepreneurial networks

strategic partnership

integration

hotel chains

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To date, the world community has developed new trend“Creation and development of business networks” is a new approach of firms to solving various problems in the rapid development of the world economy, markets, technologies, the emergence of new high-tech products, while improving complex solutions in the modern economy, with a high level of risk in the market.

Companies create entrepreneurial networks (hereinafter - entrepreneurial networks, PS) in the format of strategic partnerships with suppliers, consumers, government and other organizations, various institutes, research centers, laboratories and even with competing firms in order to improve the efficiency of the enterprise, reaching a new level of quality products manufactured, services rendered, development and implementation of innovations on the world market, which cannot be achieved in conditions of direct competition. Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the relationship between companies provides the formation of an entrepreneurial network, in which the success of each unit depends on the success of the entire network as a whole.

In our time, there is very little research on the creation, functioning and development of entrepreneurial networks.

Different researchers put different meanings into the concept of "network".

European scientists adhere to the concept of networks as a flexible structure, participation in which allows a company to achieve competitive advantages, while most American leaders, on the other hand, tend to present networks as a stable structure, which is controlled by a single center.

In American business, the concept of "network" is considered as a certain group of people with common or similar interests, interacting with each other, and maintaining informal contact in order to help and support each other.

Entrepreneurship network participants interact about common business for more effective joint work, but the organizational, legal and economic content of this interaction is not yet clear.

The largest number of definitions of a network is based on the complete independence of the participants in network formations. However on modern markets much more often there is a situation when network participants find themselves tied to each other by obligations of a financial nature, ranging from joint ventures to owning a part of the partner's capital, while remaining legally independent.

The most decisive approach to the interpretation of networks is reflected in Webster. The author equates networks with closed corporate structures: network organizations - corporate structures which are the result of numerous contacts with partners, relationships and strategic alliances. The main characteristics of the network are unity, flexible and open coalition, led from a common center, in which the most important functions are concentrated, such as direct management of networks, their development, financial function, coordination and technological development... The authority of the common center also includes defining the network strategy, regulating customer relations and managing information flows connecting the network.

This approach is the opposite in relation to the approaches of the authors of most definitions of network interfirm cooperation. Webster identifies the main organization in the network, which builds the network and performs the role of a manager in it. Such a company is a network integrator, at its disposal are the key functions and resources of the network, which allows it to take a leading position in relation to other network participants and build network relationships around itself. In this approach to the network, it is possible to apply the methods strategic management, all its participants are drawn to the "manager" who manages the network.

Study of various definitions of "network", "network organization", etc. shows that by the entrepreneurial network most researchers understand the presence of a permanent, stable circle of autonomous independent firms (usually rather highly specialized) performing various tasks necessary either for the functioning of the parent company in the market or for the implementation of a certain unifying idea that they cannot implement individually ... Network organization brings together advanced technologies, traditions, resources, goals, experience and production capabilities agents of the entrepreneurial network.

Today, entrepreneurial networks, along with syndicates, concerns, holdings, consortia, business associations, franchisees, cartels, pools, virtual companies, trusts, strategic alliances, unions, complexes, industrial hubs, financial and industrial groups, contract groups, transnational companies, etc. etc., are one of the complex forms of metacorporation - the association of a certain number of economic entities that do not have the status of a legal entity.

Many organizations, when joining production and economic associations, are completely or partially deprived of their legal, economic and administrative independence. Various associations of organizations with a rigid hierarchical management structure (holdings, etc.) have a significant drawback - low flexibility and the inability to quickly and efficiently respond to various changes in the market.

Organizations that have entered the entrepreneurial network are protected from such a disadvantage. Small and medium-sized businesses need such protection, they still have some freedom of action and unlimited rights.

The objectives of the association are: competitiveness in the market, development in all areas of activity, a successful position in the market, development and work with innovations.

The main priority in the creation of business networks is the solution of problems arising before its participants on the basis of their full interaction; improving the efficiency of the organizations included in the network; obtaining a synergistic effect.

The main prerequisites for the creation and development of entrepreneurial networks, which increase their attractiveness, are:

The presence of common goals for all network participants;

Mutual interest of all partners in the results of activities;

Monotony of dominant concepts and current tasks;

Detailed study of projects and the rationality of decisions on its organization;

Collegial solution of problems concerning all partners of network entities;

The presence of management (s) centers, guaranteeing the coordination of actions and decisions of all partners;

Free entry into the entrepreneurial network on mutually beneficial terms;

Timely and indispensable fulfillment of obligations agreed with the general strategy and undertaken by each member of the network;

Constant communication between partners, constant and timely response to changes in the external and internal environment.

The stages of the formation of an entrepreneurial network, as a rule, begin with an analysis of the prerequisites for the integration life of a business unit. Consideration of the prerequisites for combining entities into an entrepreneurial network should, in our opinion, be rational, based on:

Obtaining and evaluating data on the preferences and socio-psychological state of the owners (management) of an economic entity;

Obtaining and evaluating data on socially oriented hazards external environment(and its trends);

Obtaining and evaluating data characterizing the main technical and economic indicators of an economic entity, its profitability (and its tendencies).

The study of the theory of entrepreneurial networks, the study of existing models of their functioning made it possible to single out two organizational models business network: horizontally and vertically integrated business networks.

1. Vertically integrated networks on the principle of "technological chain" unite autonomous economic entities. At the same time, one of the subjects of the network plays the role of a manager: organizes current activities, generates a strategic plan for the development of the network.

That is, an entrepreneurial network is formed around a large company. In this case, the parent company - the center of the network - concentrates around itself smaller firms, entrusting them with the implementation of certain types activities. The dominant position in various business operations is predominantly held by big company, being a customer, and the network becomes hierarchical. As a rule, in this situation, small companies quickly fall under the control of a more powerful partner.

As an example, in the 1990s, the American carmaker Chrysler created an “expanded enterprise” model by including independent suppliers of parts and equipment with whom the company had long-term relationships. In corporate documents, the "new" Chrysler was defined as "a consolidated group of suppliers and buyers who work together to maximize the efficiency of vehicle model development and minimize total costs to maximize the value of the product to the end user." As part of long-term agreements with these suppliers, Chrysler has established structures joint management resource flows, built communication systems, coordinated delivery schedules and logistics. Through the partner network, the innovative experience of organizing production was quickly transferred, there was an exchange of personnel, knowledge, and experience. Fundamentally new decisions were made on the location of production in relation to proximity to partners. As a result, the time required for the development of new models was shortened, and production capacities were loaded more efficiently. Similar examples are the Japanese company Toyota, the alliance of the home appliance manufacturer Procter & Gamble, and largest network supermarkets Wal-Mart and others. A key factor in making strategic decisions about building alliances is the ability to reduce transaction costs. General Motors is the largest American automobile corporation. She has built an extensive entrepreneurial network with automotive factories and suppliers in Europe, Asia, North America. Some of them controlled the exchange of technologies, others were supposed to improve the promotion of products to the markets of other countries, and still others were designed to improve production methods, fourth - to update and expand the range, etc. With the help of a well-built entrepreneurial network, General Motors established production in 35 countries of the world, sales in 192 countries and for 77 years (until 2008) was largest manufacturer cars in the world (in 2008 - Toyota, and since 2009 - Volkswagen). According to the results of 2011, the concern again became the largest automaker in the world, although in May 2012 it again gave way to Toyota and Volkswagen.

In Russia, the progress of this form of organizing entrepreneurial networks is hampered by the evasion of large entities from delegating their functions to partners. As a result, as an alternative, authoritarian holdings appear, which are distinguished by the presence of a single core and many autonomous business entities capable of working in a project mode.

2. Horizontally integrated networks are a combination of business units that manufacture similar products and operate in the same market for various subsidiary industries, parts of the infrastructure, operating within the business network on outsourcing principles. In this case, the management of the network is carried out by a collegial body - the board of directors, which also manages current activities and develops a PS development strategy.

A network of organizations of similar size. Most of the networked companies are legally independent, but maintain mutually beneficial stability of each other in economic plan... Some areas of activity when companies are merged into a network may be transferred from one network participant to another, specializing, for example, in the provision of raw materials and materials, after-sales service of products, marketing research, recruiting and improving their qualifications, marketing research. In the conditions under consideration, the business network is governed by a presidential council (board of directors), which includes directors of the most important enterprises of the network, owners, investors, etc.

Consider an example of a global entrepreneurial network.

In September 1991, an entrepreneurial network began to form between Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola.

IBM has offered to cooperate with Apple in the creation of single-chip processors. Thereafter, Apple offered Motorola to join the network (Apple was a major customer of Motorola), believing that it was capable of producing more microprocessors than IBM. Then this triple network was nicknamed AIM (Apple, IBM, Motorola).

As a result of joining the network, everyone won:

IBM got a single-chip processor at the lowest cost, which was the goal of networking;

Apple Receives One of the Most Powerful RISC Processors on the Market and free advertising in publications as an IBM name;

Motorola received a state-of-the-art RISC chip at no cost with the ability to market it, including Apple and IBM.

Consider an example involving Russian organizations.

Transaero Airlines announced the formation of a new aviation alliance, having organized a network with several airlines: Ural Airlines, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, Eryo Kazakhstan Group and the American Continental Air Lines. The organized network provided for the sharing of routes and the sale of tickets at special prices, which created comfortable conditions for its passengers - now they could spend the minimum time between flights and save money.

In addition, in practice, there are so-called combined entrepreneurial networks that combine the features of vertically and horizontally integrated entrepreneurial networks.

In a combined (vertical-horizontal) entrepreneurial network, both companies participating in separate stages are combined technological process, and companies that produce the same products, engaged in auxiliary production providing services to network members.

One of the modern examples of an entrepreneurial network is a cluster, which has all its characteristics. In this case, the business network is a virtually integrated structure. However, all financial decisions are made collectively on the basis of local compromises between cluster members, which is also typical for an entrepreneurial network.

The decision to build a network is not always straightforward and straightforward. Despite the successful development, inter-firm partnerships, in fact, remain controversial. They simultaneously manifest the features of both the firm and the market. On the one hand, entrepreneurial networks behave like a single firm, partners jointly coordinate strategic actions and collective decisions... On the other hand, the competitive mechanism of the market continues to operate within the network. The success of the result depends on many factors: the choice of the level of association, the compatibility of strategic interests, the maturity of the industry, and even, importantly, the commonality of cultural characteristics.

Based on the above, we can classify the levels of creation of entrepreneurial networks (Table 1). The table shows that entrepreneurial networks can be of three levels.

Table 1

Classification of levels of creation of entrepreneurial networks

creation of PS	Classification criteria
Business level	Compatibility of strategic interests (technological, marketing)	Pirelli Tires + Cooper Tire (tire industry) (cars)
	Forms of ownership (agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, trade associations, franchising, licensing)	Citigroup + OracleCorporation (without ownership) Express + Banksys + ERG + Interplay (joint venture)
	Interaction mechanism (double-sided, multi-sided)	Microsoft + Motorolla (double-sided) (network)
Industry level	Industry structure (intra-industry, inter-industry)	Pirelli Tires + Cooper Tire (tire industry) Cisco Systems + Cap Gemini (cross-industry)
	Industry maturity (emergence, rapid growth, maturity, contraction, decline)	Cisco Systems + Motorolla (fast growing) (mature industry)
International level	Country affiliation (national and international)	CiscoSystems + PeopleSoft (USA) SAS (Scandinavia) + Lufthansa (Germany)
	Cultural characteristics (sociocultural identification)	(Japanese cluster + English)

As an example, it is appropriate to cite hotel chains that began to appear in the world in the early 30s of the 20th century. Chain hotels are the most popular with customers, as for famous brand there is always a guarantee of reliability, comfort and high quality service.

Table Table 2 lists the TOP-10 world leaders among hotel chains in 20121.

table 2

TOP-10 world leaders among hotel chains (2012)

	Hotel chain name	Number of hotels		Number of rooms	Owner country
	InterContinental Hotels Group
	Hilton worldwide
	Wyndham Hotel Group
	Choice Hotels International
	Starwood Hotels and Resorts
	Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group
	Hyatt Hotels Corporation

conclusions

1. Most firms join the entrepreneurial network to improve their competitiveness. This is advisable only if individuality is preserved, otherwise the firm may find itself in a position of ignoring its interests for the sake of other network participants.

2. The main reason for a business unit to enter the network is the existence of problems that can most effectively be solved together with the network partners.

3. When entering the entrepreneurial network, each business unit discloses its own economic potential, the emergence of new management ideas and solutions is activated, and a synergistic effect is obtained in the business network from combining all the resources of the participants in the network.

Reviewers:

Terentyeva T.V., Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, First Vice-Rector, Head of the Department of Economics and Management, Vladivostok State University economy and service, Vladivostok;

Vorozhbit O.Yu., Doctor of Economics, Professor, Head of the Department international business and Finance, Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, Vladivostok.

The work was received on December 29, 2014.

Bibliographic reference

Masyuk N.N., Kulik D.G. STRATEGIC STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIP: BUSINESS NETWORKS // Basic research... - 2014. - No. 12-10. - S. 2179-2184;
URL: http://fundamental-research.ru/ru/article/view?id=36548 (date accessed: 31.10.2019). We bring to your attention the journals published by the "Academy of Natural Sciences"

English strategic alliance) is a general name for forms of resource cooperation and coordination of the activities of companies in order to obtain mutual benefits (synergy effect). At the heart of S.p. lies the cooperation of the management of firms, due to mutual participation in capital, the coincidence of strategic interests in the development and diversification of production, expansion of sales markets, entry into new markets, etc. S. p. involves the coordination of the activities of the participating firms. According to the degree of deepening cooperation and pooling of resources, a trace is allocated. SP forms: training of the personnel of one firm by the specialists of another for the development of a new production; agreement on production, assembly and transfer of products (buy-back compensation transactions); transfer of a patent under license; co-hosting agreement marketing research; partnership in exploration, R&D and co-production. Strategic partners can be selected from among domestic and foreign firms. At the same time, both firms of equal size and firms that differ in scale and market coverage become partners. Often S. p. is an effective way for small firms (especially those engaged in the field of advanced technologies) to enter new markets with their own unique product. The common form of S. of the item. - entrepreneurial networks, the participants of which coordinate their activities both in the short and long term. An important form of S. p. are the so-called technoparks (science cities), within the framework of which the interaction of science, high-tech production, modern computerized infrastructure and the sphere of vocational education is carried out.

"Personnel officer. HR management(personnel management) ", 2013, N 5

BUSINESS AND HR: RULES FOR STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

In business practice in last years the phrase "HR is a strategic partner" appeared and began to be actively used. Elena Loginova, senior vice president, director of the HR department at Renaissance Credit, shares her thoughts on this topic, her experience of building a successful strategic partnership between HR and business.

Elena, what does this mean for business and for HR - a strategic partnership? And how relevant is it for Russian companies?

The strategic partnership between HR and business is a natural step in the evolution of HR from yesterday's HR department. But there are not so many organizations where HR is a full-fledged business advisor, and there are only a few companies where HR is an equal partner who has a significant influence on the business and the company's development strategy, makes business decisions and implements changes.

Competition in all spheres of business intensifies every year. All companies, international and local, are looking for ways to optimize and develop resources such as capital, technology, invest in innovation and create a strong brand. However, unfortunately, not everyone is ready to develop strategies and invest in the development of often the most expensive and valuable resource - personnel.

The role of "human resources", as well as the dependence of business on them, of course, vary greatly from industry to industry, and it is difficult to find any area of ​​activity where this influence is not at all. Even companies whose success is associated with innovations and new technologies are people-geniuses, ideological inspirers, implementers of these innovative ideas. So why, despite the obviousness of this factor, in the face of heightened competition, not all business leaders are ready to admit that HR is performing one of the key functions in achieving the result? Remember in your business environment someone from the CEO who grew out of HR. I, unfortunately, do not know of such examples. For me, the topic of HR as an equal business partner is the basis, the philosophy of all HR activities. I believe that for the success of a company, a strong HR is necessary, that with its help an organization can increase sales, enter new markets, develop New Product and be a leader in the competition.

So how do you become a full partner and empower the business to feel the need for strong, professional and strategic HR? What competencies should an HR or HR manager have in order for a business to be ready to recognize a partner in it?

All HR practices and technologies have long been known and are not secret. We all understand that a company must have a competency model, use an assessment center when recruiting and promoting, engage in talent and have succession planning, have a direct link between assessment and remuneration, develop leaders, develop an employer brand, build corporate culture... However, even having all of these tools does not guarantee a strategic role for HR.

I would highlight five basic rules for building a successful long-term strategic partnership between HR and business.

First, the HR strategy should not exist separately, but should be part of the overall strategy companies. That is, the HR strategy should be based on the goals and objectives of the organization. Moreover, such an HR strategy does not always reflect general HR trends. For example, replicated talent development programs should be implemented and launched only in organizations where managers are ready for this and there are real prospects for talent. Otherwise, such programs will only lead to the creation of "stars" who, not finding use within their organization, will seek other opportunities in the market. Therefore, HR must clearly understand the business objectives and select HR tools that match the implementation of the business strategy.

Secondly, HR needs to know and understand the business well. This, in my opinion, is one of the key conditions, without which it is difficult to be a real business partner. If the HR director is a participant in all strategic meetings, HR as a whole understands business processes, knows and monitors business indicators, is informed about upcoming changes, then only in this case a dialogue about bonus schemes and incentive systems is held with the business on an equal footing, HR is offered -solutions at the stage of launching projects, and not aimed at "extinguishing already existing fires".

Third, HR must speak to the business in an understandable language - the language of numbers. The most important thing here is to avoid the main stereotype about HR and HR expenses, which are only a necessary cost item for the organization. In fact, all HR activities are easily translated into numbers that ultimately affect the profit of the organization. Having more than just arguments, but a financial model for influencing the business, makes it much easier to talk to business leaders. Every HR should be ready for a dialogue about what it gives to the organization and how it affects not only costs, but also the company's income.

Fourth, the HR team should include professionals who are passionate about the overall business objectives. One of the keys to successfully building a strong HR partner in an organization is strong personalities in key HR positions. An indifferent and interested approach is difficult to fake, so select people who are ready to communicate with the business on an equal footing, sincerely interested in the overall result of the activity.

Finally, fifth, the organization or its top managers and shareholders must be prepared for an equal HR role. This is the first of the principles that, it would seem, HR cannot always influence. At the same time, without the support of the company's top officials, recognition of the strategic role of HR, it is very difficult for him to become an equal and successful partner for business. Indeed in the culture of many international organizations the role of HR is well defined in advance and does not need to be conquered and proven. But, on the other hand, we all, being professional HR, involved in business, offering real tools for solving business problems, can influence the perception of the role of HR in an organization.

You said at the beginning that HR as a strategic partner is a natural step in the evolution of HR. What's next - will the role of HR change? How do you envision the existence of the HR department in the company in the future?

The world of business is changing and becoming more complex, so HR departments face new challenges. Only in partnership with the business can HR help the company maximize the potential of existing professionals and managers of the organization, become a coach of business leaders, create a corporate culture in which people will be comfortable working and developing, that is, in general, develop an HR strategy that contributes to the success of the organization. And if we talk about the ideal future role of HR, then this is not just a business partner, but the same business unit, the HR director is the same business leader, just in the HR role, and not an HR professional trying to get to know the business. And in this case, in my opinion, in the future there is a chance to appear a CEO who grew out of HR.

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For initial stage the political science analysis of international cooperation was characterized by a lack of consistency and complexity. The situation began to change since the 1980s, when the attention of scientists began to be attracted by such issues as geopolitical and national causes, forms, content, goals and consequences of intercountry relations. In the media and public rhetoric, the phrase “strategic partnership” is increasingly used, which has now become firmly established in the conceptual apparatus of international cooperation.

So what is strategic partnership in modern international relations, what is its essence and how does it differ from other types of bilateral or multilateral cooperation? How do relations between countries evolve into the stage of strategic partnership and what factors does this process depend on?

Strategic partnership relationship. Despite the fact that this term has become regularly used in international documents, in scientific literature, The media and in everyday life, it has not been sufficiently studied both in foreign and domestic political science. The term "strategic partnership" is increasingly used in business as well. Moreover, such a partner is a firm that cooperates on a long-term basis in solving its most important tasks during the reconstruction or reform of the firm.

In the political lexicon, the concept of "strategic partnership" appeared relatively recently. The concept of strategic partnership in international relations began to be actively promoted with the end of the era " cold war". They began to talk about strategic partnership earlier in the Eurasian space than in North America, because with the collapse Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc, the end of the world bipolarity and the onset of "troubled and uncertain times", many countries, including Russia, China, India, experienced a syndrome of "loneliness" caused by the need to deal face-to-face with a single superpower. In the early 1990s, strategic partnership became opportunistic, because some states tried to use it as a kind of shield to ensure their security, others as a Trojan horse to infiltrate a new political space, and still others as a golden key to solve their economic interests. However, the widespread use of the term began a little later, but by the will of history it happened already in the next century and millennium.

This chronological contextualization of the concept of "strategic partnership" is proved by linguistic sources, in particular, modern lexicography in English... In his unpublished article, which can be translated as “Strategic partnerships as new form associations in international relations? ”, a doctoral student at the University of Bielefeld (Germany) Louis Blanco gives the following examples:

1. The British National Corpus (The British National Corpus) consists of an impressive collection of texts in English from 1980 to 1993, taken from various newspapers, books, magazines. The search for the phrase strategic partnership returned only 6 cases, and never in context international relations.

2. Corpus of Historical American English (Corpus of Historical American English) is represented by a huge number of texts compiled in the United States in the years 1810-2000. Search results: the term "strategic partnership" was used in them only in 11 cases, and only once in 1980, and was not associated with foreign policy. In the 1990s, he met 5 times and in all cases it was about US bilateral relations with other countries. For the first time, the concept of "strategic partnership" was recorded in 1992, when the text referred to US-Turkish relations. And in the 2000s, the concept of interest to us was mentioned in all 5 cases in the context of international relations.

3. A search in the final source — Corpus of Contemporary American English with a text database from 1990–2010 — yielded the following results: one use case, 1990–1994; 29 - in 1995-1999; 33 - in 2000-2004; 45 - in 2005-2010

Thus, the constant expansion of the discourse of "strategic partnership" in international relations is quite obvious from a scientific point of view, which is proved not only politically, but also linguistically.

Since the concept of "strategic partnership" is complex, then before defining this phenomenon, let us turn to the etymology of the words that constitute the term itself. Strategy(ancient Greek Στρατηγία “the art of a commander”), according to the dictionary definition, is a general plan of actual activity, covering a long period of time, the main ways to achieve a complex goal. Strategy as a mode of action becomes necessary in a situation where, in order to achieve main goal, not enough available resources. The strategy achieves the main goal through the solution of intermediate tactical tasks along the "resources - goal" axis. The foreign policy strategy of the state can be represented as a pyramid with strategic goal, which defines the further hierarchy of goals and objectives. Developing a strategy means identifying priority goals and using resources to achieve them.

Thus, the foreign policy strategy of a state determines the means and methods to achieve its goals or partner states (allies) in maintaining and increasing its power or the union of states.

The term "partnership" in its most general sense can be defined as "a relationship between individuals or groups characterized by mutual cooperation and responsibility to achieve a goal." This formulation assumes that the parties conduct a mutually beneficial relationship for some purpose and are responsible for ensuring that their decisions are consistent with the interests of the partner.

If we combine the definitions of “strategy” and “partnership” and transfer them to the field of international relations, then the following is formed general definition strategic partnership in international relations: "long-term mutually beneficial cooperation of equal subjects on international level to achieve common goals for the sake of solving national-state problems ”.

The formulated essential definition of the concept of "strategic partnership" provides only a framework for the content of what it is or what it should be in the practice of international cooperation.

It is necessary to characterize in more detail what features of international relations this term implies. The practical relevance of this task is to establish how the concept of "strategic partnership" is applicable to modern relations Of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the outside world, in particular with South Korea... It is necessary to examine the aspects of the relationship that allow them to move to the strategic level, as well as those that hinder this. The term "strategic partnership" has become firmly established in the lexicon of politicians, and it is often used when it is necessary to emphasize the special importance of relations or of the current moment... Obviously, in each specific case, politicians mean by strategic partnership a different degree of elaboration of relations and an agenda. Sometimes there are paradoxical interpretations of the concept of "strategic partnership". For example, President B. Tadic said that Serbia has four pillars of foreign policy: the EU, Russia, the United States and China, and that in a long period they will be the main doctrine in foreign policy. He also emphasized for the Politika newspaper that it should not be overlooked for a single moment that Serbia sets EU membership as a central political goal, and assessed that its strategic partnership with the United States, Russia and China does not interfere with the achievement of this goal.

But what kind of strategic partnership can there be with a state that does not recognize the territorial integrity of Serbia and, moreover, encourages the separation of Kosovo from Serbia, which the latter does not recognize?

The above example suggests that the use of the term “strategic partnership” is not always justified, as a result of which its significance is largely devalued. It has lost its original significance as an alliance or partnership of countries in solving their main tasks in the field of national security and foreign policy, designed to create favorable conditions for internal development. This term rather means the establishment of simple, friendly long-term relations, what was previously called "most favored nation" in trade and in economic contacts between states. It is no coincidence that Jonathan Hoslag divided his article on the strategic partnership between the EU and China into two parts:

1. The Strategic Partnership on Paper;
2. The Strategic Partnership in Practice.

To distinguish strategic partnership in words and on paper from real in practice, to outline a circle outside of which other types of international relations will remain, the following can be taken as its basic criteria:

The existence of fundamentally important goals, the achievement of which is possible only with serious coordination of the efforts of the parties in the long term;

A common understanding of the goals and principles of strategic partnership development by the parties;

Availability legal framework partnerships, where the content of cooperation and mechanisms for its implementation are enshrined;

Existence institutional arrangements through which the strategic partnership is implemented.

The multi-vector approach in international relations does not exclude the exclusivity of relations with especially significant, vital partner states.

In the context of the growing interdependence between the subjects of international relations in the era of globalization, no country in the world, regardless of its resource and power potential or the degree of development, cannot but be influenced by external forces. No country, no matter how powerful militarily and economically, can cope with the most acute problems of our time in isolation from other countries. They can be resisted only within the framework of close international cooperation. In such conditions, the task of individual states is to adapt as quickly as possible to the new environment through the revision of previous approaches and the development of new ones on key problems of foreign and domestic policy.

According to experts, the essence of strategic partnership is the existence of such interstate interaction, which allows partners, by combining efforts, to achieve vital domestic and foreign policy goals.

Thus, strategic partnership includes 5 main components that distinguish it from other types of international relations.

Firstly, strategic partnerships require clear common goals, objectives and interests.

Secondly, it is distinguished by its duration and constancy in time.

Thirdly, goals in strategic partnership should be multidimensional and spread in the spheres of economic, political and military interests.

Fourth, strategic partnerships are global.

And finally fifth, incentives and goals must be of such a nature that they cannot be achieved in other types of international relations, only in strategic partnership.

Ultimately, these 5 variables are at the heart of strategic partnerships. Its reliability is determined by the mutual willingness of the parties to take into account the interests of each other, the availability of effective mechanisms for the implementation of cooperation, and the discipline of partnership relations.

Aziza ALMUKANOVA