Pittsburgh, PA April 13, 2001 If FreeMarkets were a person instead of a company, it would be a dead solid lock to win Survivor, if that hypothetical person were to appear on Survivor. By now, most everybody knows that alliances are the key to winning the elimination game show, and, as of late, FreeMarkets has been making more alliances than a roomful of caffeinated diplomats.
On April 4, the company announced an alliance with pharmaceutical and healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline. Under the terms of the agreement, FreeMarkets will provide GlaxoSmithKline with access to its eSourcing Suite, which GlaxoSmithKline will use to source goods and services for its operations across the globe.
On April 9, FreeMarkets followed that up with the news that it had signed a two-year agreement with Eaton Corp., a manufacturer of engineered products that serves industrial, vehicle, construction, commercial, and aerospace markets. Under the terms of the agreement, Eaton will continue to use the FreeMarkets B2B Global Marketplace as a platform for sourcing a variety of goods and services for its operations worldwide.
The new agreement extends the relationship that FreeMarkets and Eaton began in 1998 through 2003.
Having allied with the healthcare and manufacturing worlds, the marketplace giant aimed for the skies and announced it had signed a one-year agreement with oneworld, a global alliance of 31 airlines. Under the terms of the agreement, FreeMarkets will provide oneworld with access to its eSourcing technology and sourcing expertise, which the alliance will use to source selected goods and services for its member organizations.
oneworld members include: Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile, Qantas, and their 23 affiliates.
