Randy Newman probably doesn’t get a lot of play in boardrooms around the retail sector, but that doesn’t mean that companies haven’t taken the message behind his hit “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” to heart. In fact, the tighter the margin between winners and losers gets in certain verticals, the more likely some merchants are to reach across the aisle and forge partnerships with unlikely allies — as long as the universal principal of quid pro quo is observed in all aspects.