The word sounds weird. Associativism. What’s that? It basically means we don’t have to know it all, that other people can help us set up a business, a project or an idea. This article is meant for entrepreneurs, for anyone who wants to undertake a project.

Starting a business on your own requires a lot more effort than doing it with other people. Thus, associating has many advantages, although there are some issues to have in mind to make it worthy for all involved parties. Let’s see some of them.

A partnership that’s not a partnership

Some interdisciplinary consulting companies render services in several fields. But independent professionals aren’t always capable of meeting all their customers’ demands, whether due to operational incapacity or lack of knowledge on the required field.

Sometimes a studio or business can’t meet all demands; we don’t have to be experts in all branches of our activity. Establishing commercial relationships is one aspect of associativism.

This work method can be carried out through an agreement with professionals from other branches. For example, an accountant can recommend a business administrator to one of his clients if they need organizational consulting or staff recruiting; a lawyer specialized in civil law can recommend a colleague specialized in trademark law to a client. The studio will keep 20% of the operation for having provided the client, plus 10% for the professional who recommended a colleague.

All these relations must be developed within a situation of trust, stating beforehand the percentages for each delegated work. Feedback is important to avoid imbalance and misunderstandings in the relationship. That is, both sides should provide clients to each other.

Another interesting aspect of associativism takes place when one side provides the contacts and the other the technical skills. Without any legal procedures or signing any papers -although with a great level of trust-, two people can become partners without setting up a partnership by defining percentages beforehand and doing joint businesses.

Edgar Ruffinengo, full professor of the chair of commercialization at UCES, an Argentine university in Rosario city, says: “In this competitive and hostile world, the key for professional growth lies in being able to associate with professionals or disciplines we never would have thought we’d work with. That’s the key: keeping our eyes open".

Successful cases

In companies, associativism has to do with the concept of cooperativism: if we cooperate, instead of just competing, we can obtain some benefits such as a wider negotiation capacity with suppliers, lower prices in inputs, joint commercialization strategies with a group of small entrepreneurs, sharing machinery, technology and know-how, or developing joint foreign trade strategies.

The parties must try to maintain a balanced relationship, otherwise one side will obtain more benefits than the other and thus associativism wouldn’t be profitable. In this case the win-win paradigm must be applied: it implies agreements should always bring benefits for both sides, which increases commitment and trust between the involved parties. The advantage of young entrepreneurs is that they are more open-minded and more flexible to adapt to this method.

In this sense, Mónica Liendo and Adriana Martínez -researchers at the school of economics of the Faculty of Economics in Rosario- state in a report: “Aimed at taking advantage of and boosting the strengths of each member, the associative model allows developing more efficient projects by minimizing individual risks. By implementing joint measures, the associated businesses improve their competitiveness and enhance their production through alliances between the different agents interacting in the market, thus increasing the opportunities to grow both individually and collectively”.

We can find an example in a group of small carpenter shops in Caimancito, a town in the province of Jujuy, Argentina: they share a lumber drying chamber, equipment and machinery, which allows them to improve the product design and quality. They also share commercialization channels and have undertaken joint consultancy for organizational and layout issues.

In the farming sector, cooperativism has always been present: small entrepreneurs share tractors and combine harvesters, and they make joint purchases of seeds and agrochemicals with excellent results.

The importance of belonging

Belonging to a union or an association brings many benefits. An association of companies or professionals is a significant means to defend common interests, receive first-hand information, generate new commercial possibilities and have access to rounds of business or fairs. At the same time, many of these associations organize courses to provide training on new tendencies.

Darío Hernández Carro heads Entrepreneurship Iberoamérica, an organization aimed at gathering young entrepreneurs in said region. He explains the importance of creating these types of spaces. “It’s formed by a group of young professionals and entrepreneurs experienced in business setup, business training and cooperation for development”, he says. The purpose of the organization is to support, promote, stimulate and channel business projects of young entrepreneurs from Uruguay and the entire region.

The members of this association are given support to enhance their businesses (in case they’re already running them) or counseling to develop their ideas or projects.

It is not good that the man should be alone

Nature itself shows us it’s in our essence to depend on others: we need each other as members of a society. When it comes to doing businesses, the same logic applies: we need other people to complement each other, whether we’re freelancers or companies.

The key is to complement necessities and share values and a high level of trust. Synergy proposes a paradigm change, where the contribution of the whole is much larger than the sum of individual contributions. Making a partnership where all members win and obtain benefits can leads us to a market that is not so wild and is more socially responsible, where the problematic of each participant is approached. Associativism is a collective way of reaching these solutions.