Learning and innovation through interfirm alliances: the role of human resource development

The strategic importance of interfirm alliances as vehicle of knowledge acquisition and innovation has been widely acknowledged both in academic literature and in management practice. Also, human resource development (HRD) as embodiment of learning and development processes in organisation has been acknowledged as well.

However, the role of HRD in interfirm alliance learning has been less considered. This chapter explores the nature of interfirm alliances as hybrid organisations and the factors that determine inter-partner learning and innovation in alliances with the aim of assessing the potential role of HRD in facilitating learning and innovation in strategic alliances. The outcome of the assessment in this chapter shows that HRD can contribute to development of alliance learning/absorptive capacity of the partner firms through implementation of strategic HRD practices.