In the current highly uncertain economic environment, corporate decision making is increasingly difficult. Strategic questions abound. Should excess cash flows be reinvested in the firm or distributed to shareholders? Does restructuring through a combination of divestitures and spin-offs make sense? Should firms continue to “buy” growth through M&As and run the risk of overpaying, making achieving required shareholder returns more challenging? Should corporate executives stay with what they know or diversify? Should firms downsize their operations to better focus on markets in which their core competencies give them a competitive advantage? These are important questions with no easy answers, that accountants are roped into answering every single day. While this webinar, and the rest of the webinars in this series, does not promise quick answers to these demanding questions, it does offer insight into all aspects of the corporate restructuring process from takeovers and joint ventures to divestitures and spin-offs and equity carve-outs and reorganizing businesses. This webinar describes the common motives for entering business alliances, ranging from minority investments to joint ventures, as well as the critical success factors for establishing alliances. Reasons for employing alternative legal forms and ways of resolving common deal-structuring issues also are addressed. The advantages and disadvantages of the various types of alliances are discussed in detail as well as what a manager should consider in choosing the type of business alliance most appropriate for the circumstances.