http://www.economist.com/news/business/21586590-french-firm-seeks-new-roads-profit-electric-cars-plugging-away

Economist, September 21, 2013

With Bollore making up 50% of the European Market for electric cars, it made sense to have a Key Partner like Renault. With big threats on to the market on the way such as Volkswagen and BMW, if Bollore didn’t team up with someone, they could have been easily weeded out by the big car brands. This proves that even though you make up the majority of the market, it does not mean that is a stable position, especially for such a small company. There point of difference is their lithium-metal-polymer batteries, which they believe is better than the other batteries.

With the small market of electric cars and the encroaching of bigger brands, small companies, like Bollore, have a survived by having Key Partners that could increase their production and help them advertise their points of difference.