Abstract:
With the upgrading of polytechnics to constituent universities in Kenya, competition has been taken to even greater heights as far as midlevel training institutions is concerned. Students now have chances of progression after completing their diploma courses in the same polytechnics to do degrees. The study was an assessment of factors firms consider when entering into strategic alliances, the case of the Kenya institute of management. The study adopted a case study design. The target population was the directors and managers of the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM). A sample of 25 respondents was used which was spread proportionately across 3 administrative strata. The study used primary data that was collected through a self-administered questionnaires. The study found out that the Kenya Institute of management has been actively involved in strategic alliances some of them that are still active while one had failed. It was also found that KIM mainly entered into strategic alliance in order to enter new markets and improving financial stability as key points. Other factors that also played important role in joining strategic alliance for KIM was improvement of customer service as well as reduction in product development costs. The study recommends that communication and trust should be cultivated at the start of the strategic alliance to ensure that each partners needs are kept in focus and the strategic alliance agreement should be well be drafted to ensure that should there be a change in the top management in one of the partner companies, the strategic alliance is not affected. The study further recommends that training institutions when entering into strategic alliances should carefully examine the reasons for entering into strategic alliances and be clear what expectations they have of their partner.
