This thesis is dedicated to studying the concept of partnership marketing and apply the knowledge gained to the commissioner Uber Vietnam through actual research. The case company has entered the Vietnamese transportation market in 2015 and is currently going through a rough time acquiring market attention. Partnership marketing has been one of the main strategies that the commissioner applied in its market entry plan, however it did not deliver the expected result. Therefore, the thesis writer conduct-ed this research in order to identify the root cause and propose a future plan for Uber Vietnam to improve its program.
The aim of this thesis is to deliver the right recommendations for the case company to successfully implement a partnership strategy in order to sus-tainably grow in the Vietnamese transportation market. Hence, the thesis writer proposed several consultation meetings with the case company to fully understand the current situation of Uber Vietnam on the Vietnamese transportation market. A qualitative approach was developed to help the author investigate deeply into the topic and deliver a proper suggestion. In order to achieve the goal, the thesis writer utilized both theoretical re-views from existing studies and practical findings from her own research. The theoretical framework consists of relevant secondary data from multi-ple studies on strategic alliances/partnership marketing. Subsequently, a primary research was conducted with a series of five different structured in-depth interviews with the case company’s related stakeholders. The in-terviews were executed consecutively within a month through Skype due to the geographical distance between the thesis writer and the interview-ees. Based on the research, it can be concluded that the case company’s effort in applying a strategic partnership did not fully paid off because of its in-sufficient attention to the partnership program design. The study indicated that any partnership negotiation should result in a win-win situation when both parties can fulfill their goals. As a result, the thesis writer focused on designing a thorough process from the preparation phase to the evaluation phase and verified the importance of cross partnership management. In conclusion, a strategic partnership can become the case company Uber Vi-etnam’s competitive advantage if it is well executed and thoroughly con-solidated.