OVERVIEW OF THE OBSTACLES AND FACILITATORS OF LEARNING AND ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE IN STRATEGIC ALLIANCES – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

In this paper we address the issue of knowledge transfer between organizations in partnerships as well as the role of the knowledge exchange in building successful cooperation. Given its many positive effects on the business performance, such as creativity, innovativeness and flexibility needed in modern business environment, it was of the utmost importance to investigate different factors that either contribute or constrain learning in alliances. After the theoretical background on the aforementioned topic was given, an empirical research and its main conclusions were described in the paper. A study of the alliances in Croatian context revealed that organizational characteristics exhibit the most pronounced influence on the knowledge transfer success which was especially highlighted in domestic alliances. The level of integration, the primary area of cooperation and the previous experience in forming alliances between partners did not change the extent to which different factors influenced knowledge transfer