Learning in strategic alliances
A Vygotskian perspective
Abhijit Ghosh
Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Keywords Learning organizations, Strategic alliances
Abstract Although organizational learning occurs through individuals, it would be a mistake to
conclude that organizational learning is nothing but the cumulative result of their members’
learning. Organizations do not have brains, but they have cognitive systems and memories. A
device cited in this literature as an important tool for organizational learning is the “Strategic
Alliance” – an important element of contemporary firms’ competitive strategies. This paper
attempts to look at the phenomenon of inter-organizational learning through the
socio-cultural-historical lens of Vygotsky and hopes to advance a theoretical framework, which is
more eclectic and can therefore better explain the dynamics of learning in alliances.
Introduction
In today’s competitive and rapidly changing world, adaptation and innovation are
critical. Understanding the mechanisms and dimensions of learning is undoubtedly of
paramount importance to both academicians and practitioners. The resource-based
view of the firm describes the business enterprise as a collection of sticky and difficult
to imitate resources (Barney, 1986; Penrose and Slater, 1959; Wernerfelt, 1984)
stressing the protection and deployment of these resources. A related literature on
“dynamic capabilities” emphasizes the importance of change in the capabilities
underpinning these resources focusing more on the development than on the
exploitation of firm specific resources (Teece and Pisano, 1994). A central factor in the
“dynamic capabilities” view of firm strategy is the acquisition of new capabilities
through organizational learning. Many management scholars have endeavored to
study the process of whether or not organizations learn, and if they do, how? These
scholars have looked at various aspects of organizational learning and have addressed
it in various ways. One view of organizational learning is that “it is the encoding of
inferences from history into routines that guide behavior” (Levitt and March, 1988);
another view of it is “the acquisition of knowledge by any of its units that it recognizes
as potentially useful” (Huber, 1991). Yet another view of it is “the development of
insights, knowledge, and associations between past actions, the effectiveness of those
actions, and future actions (Fiol and Lyles, 1985). Some of the most influential views on
organizational learning are those of Argyris and Schon (1978) who look at it as the
ability to detect and correct error, the mismatch of outcome to expectation, and Nonaka
and Takeuchi (1995) who explain the process of knowledge creation (individual level)
and subsequent knowledge amplification (organization level).
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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The author expresses his profound gratitude to Professors Mark Aulls, Hamid Etemad,
Jan Jorgensen and Robert David, McGill University and Professor Jorge Niosi, UQAM for going
through the original manuscript and for providing valuable suggestions. Sincere thanks to
McMaster World Congress Program Director Professor Nick Bontis for his encouragement.
Any errors whatsoever remain the author’s responsibility.
TLO
11,4/5
302
The Learning Organization
Vol. 11 No. 4/5, 2004
pp. 302-311
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0969-6474
DOI 10.1108/09696470410538206