Corp-Net, Hickory Team Up For New Enterprise

<H1>Corp-Net, Hickory Team Up For New Enterprise</H1><H2>David Murphy: Expects increase in multinationals</H2><H3>By Stefani C. O'Connor</H3><I>Columbus, Ohio </I>- In keeping with the industry trend toward mergers and consolidations, two consortia-International Corp-Net Partnership and Hickory Travel Systems-Europe-are forging an alliance to create a joint venture by Jan. 1 that ultimately will expand the corporations' global travel management systems.

Over the next six months, the agreement calls for the corporations-which have an aggregate volume of $1.6 billion and $1 billion respectively-to work in tandem to develop mutual client support programs and preferred supplier contracts, as well as through cooperative education and networking conferences. The consortia also will determine what percentage of individual expertise each will bring to the new endeavor. For example, Hickory Europe has in-house staff who put together its preferred corporate rate hotel program, while Corp-Net's is currently outsourced through ABC Corporate Services. Restructuring such areas for cohesiveness will be one objective.

"We've got to figure out how to integrate those types of things," said David Murphy, president of International Corp-Net. "We're going to be sitting down with Hickory Europe in the next month and a half to define how we're going to do that, along with other preferred vendor programs. And where the costs are going to come out, we don't know yet."

Once launched, the joint venture will be a separate entity, and the name is expected to reflect the Corp-Net piece of the partnership. "It's 99 percent certain that Hickory Europe will change its name," said Murphy. This also will serve to eliminate any existing confusion over Hickory Europe's former link to Corp-Net rival Hickory Travel Systems USA. Those ties were severed in December 1995.

That cut was the impetus for the current alliance. After ending its relationship with Hickory in America, Hickory Europe sought another ally. It found Corp-Net at the suggestion of sales and marketing vice president Mark Bowers, who had previous dealings with Murphy while at another agency.

Hickory Europe chairman Jean Claude Fert said the company had been looking for "the right U.S. consortium in order to establish a long-term partnership," and expressed optimism regarding the new relationship and the benefits he expected it to provide to clients, suppliers and members.

In explaining the expected alliance setup, Murphy said a company that handled travel management from the United States would go to Corp-Net, while one that handled it from Europe would contact Hickory. "But the vehicle by which we would operate the entire program would be the joint venture," he said. He anticipated the undertaking will drive "a steady increase in the number of multinational companies that we deal with on both sides of the pond."

Hickory Europe has 205 locations, predominantly in Western Europe, and is owned by four agency shareholders in Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. It has 21 additional members in other countries. Corp-Net has 129 offices in the United States and is wholly owned by its members, which buy equal interest in the consortium.

This is a second partnership for Corp-Net, which has an alliance with Toronto-based Canadian consortium INTRA Travel. Murphy said he expected such alliances to be the direction in which the corporate travel industry will go.

"The number-one focus here is client support," he said. "You have to form some sort of a relationship with people who know how to operate within their local economies because none of us have that knowledge."

In the Pacific Rim, Corp-Net has destination management companies as affiliates, which Murphy said provide support for the network. However, he stressed, "there's quite a difference between a DMC and a full-fledged corporate travel office."

Murphy said that no immediate management shifts are expected, but he indicated that "at some point there very well may be a centralized management office.