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RESHUFFLE

PARTNERSHIPS / STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

Which activities should businesses retain as AI partners take on more work?

AI capabilities can loosen the constraints that keep activities together. Partnerships reconnect those activities across firms, changing who reaches customers, coordinates delivery and sets participation rules.

← Partnerships overview

What separates, and who reconnects the service?

AI providers can supply advice and preparation without operating the whole service. Unbundling separates those activities; rebundling connects them to delivery through a new channel or inside the existing business.[1]

Switch arrangements to see who performs the same work. Select an activity for its strategic implications.

Data access, authority to act, operational coordination and accountability shape each arrangement. Bargaining power depends on whether partners can replace the contribution and find other routes to the same customers.[2]

EVIDENCE AND DEEPER ANALYSIS

Explore this framework in Commerce

Examine documented arrangements, the strategic interpretation and the limits of the evidence.

How partnerships reconnect Commerce →Inspect the actors, activity boundaries and connections.What providers still need to coordinate →Examine the service requirements that constrain separation.Who performs which activities →Examine different divisions of work and their evidence limits.
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APPLY TO YOUR BUSINESS

Build a partnership strategy around your competitive position.

Bring your proposed arrangement, the capabilities your firm contributes and the alternatives you can pursue.

Discuss a strategic assessment →

Sources and notes

  1. Theory. Sangeet Paul Choudary, Reshuffle (first edition, July 2025), "Containerization as coordination," pp. 23-24. This informs the distinction between changing a customer interface and coordinating the service behind it. Its application here is the Observatory's interpretation.

  2. Theory. Richard M. Emerson, "Power-Dependence Relations," American Sociological Review 27, no. 1 (1962), pp. 31-41, especially pp. 32-33. Dependence concerns valued outcomes and costly alternatives for the same outcome. The strategic application here is the Observatory's; the analysis examines how alternatives affect negotiating room.