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Although many firms enter strategic alliances with specific learning objectives, these objectives are often not realized. Drawing on a study of north American-Japanese joint ventures, this article analyzes the question of why some firms are more effective than others at exploiting alliance learning opportunities and develops a framework for alliance learning. The framework incorporates knowledge management processes - a set of organizational actions that establish the basis for accessing and exploiting alliance knowledge - and facilitating factors - the conditions that promote a favorable climate for effective alliance knowledge management. The primary obstacle to successfully learning from alliances is a failure to execute the specific organizational processes necessary to access, assimilate, and disseminate alliance knowledge.