| dc.description.abstract | Strategic alliances are co-operative agreements between firms or enterprises that go beyond normal company dealing, but fall short of Mergers or full partnership. This study is premised on the assumption that cooperative partnerships or strategic alliances will become the dominant structure for business in future decades (Drucker, 1989). This is evident in the phenomenal growth in the establishment of alliances in the world over despite high failure rates. The high failure rates are not withstanding, both domestic and international alliances are critically important to firm success (Glaister and Buckley, 1999).
The University of Nairobi is a fully established and the oldest institution of higher learning in Kenya. In this regard, it has formed alliances with a number of academic and non-academic institutions both locally and internationally. This study explores in details the implementation of strategic alliances at the University of Nairobi, the challenges of the strategic alliances and how the university has countered these challenges.
The study utilized a case study in order to produce theoretical inferences that were valid, reliable and useful for further generalization. The methods of data collection were both interview and discussion with the Deputy Vice Chancellor- Administration and Finance and Deputy Vice Chancellor- Academic Affairs. Secondary sources provided a useful insight into the alliances the University has formed.
The study's results suggested that the University of Nairobi has formed over 30 strategic alliances with the alliance partners from academic and non academic institutions. The alliances have been driven more by globalization of markets, student exchanges, government sponsorship and future employments for students. The university has faced challenges such as cultural differences, mistrust in the alliance, differences in objectives, competition and lack of enough trained manpower to match the requirements of the alliance.
The study found the university has devised ways of dealing with such challengers which included creating an enabling environment within which the foreign students can interact and appreciate cultural diversity within the university, exiting partnerships in case of mistrust, holding regular meetings with the alliance partners to assess progress of the collaboration, modernisation of its facilities and it products, and quick response to new technology.
The limitations encountered in this study included inability to interview all the alliance partners who are geographically located and unavailability of some respondents due to the nature of their job. Further, the study has made suggestions for further research that there is need to widen the scope to include the views of other alliance partners and replicate the findings of the study to other academic institutions which have implemented strategic alliance strategy | en_US |
