JDA Software Group Inc, the Phoenix, Arizona-based retail applications company, is to form a joint venture with manufacturing software powerhouse Baan NV. The two have agreed to create a new organization, Baan-JDA Retail, under 50/50 ownership, subject to a definitive agreement being reached over the next few weeks. The combination is intended to give both companies a boost into the global retail marketplace. JDA has 600 retail clients worldwide, and Baan has 7,000 customer sites for its front and corporate office, enterprise resource planning, supply chain and services software. Baan-JDA will provide integration, product packaging, support, marketing and sales to retailers with upstream management needs, manufacturers with their own retail operations, enterprise customers with wholesale and retail businesses, and catalog, mail-order and electronic commerce companies.
