Strategic alliances in higher education in Ecuador: the challenge of knowledge transfer and its effect on the learning curve

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of knowledge transfer on the learning curve in higher education institutions involved in a strategic alliance. A qualitative inductive approach was used to analyze the case of a learning alliance between two higher education institutions. The authors found sufficient evidence, in the environment of universities in Ecuador, to support the idea that successful knowledge transfer processes between allied institutions have a positive effect on the learning curve of the institution that adopts the knowledge transferred in its initial stages. Furthermore, with the maturity of the relationship, this process of knowledge transfer becomes a two way exchange process that promotes the improvement of the institutions involved in the alliance. Key factors in the process of knowledge transfer are effective communication processes, social networks between institutions involved in alliance, motivation, absorptive capacity, rotating membership, and leadership of managers.