Supply Chain Learning of Higher Education Institutions in Low- and Medium-Income Countries

Higher education institutions (HEIs) provide teaching and research services to multiple service recipients in society, including students, firms, non-governmental organizations, and policymakers. The performance of HEIs is vital to the growing knowledge economies of countries in general and to human capital development in low- and medium-income (LMI) countries in particular. HEIs need to match their education and research with the needs of society to provide services that are useful for their countries’ development. Adopting a service supply chain perspective, we provide deep theoretical and empirical insights into how supply chain learning is limited in the higher education setting in developing countries. Building on extensive primary data (i.e., 92 interviews and three focus groups with policymakers, university managers, and faculty members and researchers) and secondary data (i.e., university webpages, strategic planning reports, relevant panel discussions in media or conferences, and regulations), the study suggests that distance between HEIs and their stakeholders and delays in processes of acquiring, interpreting, and applying information reduce interactions between HEIs and their service recipients, which diminishes the quality of their services and their ability to respond to socioeconomic needs and resolve wicked problems at the national and international levels. We show how the characteristics of higher education public policy and HEIs interact to leverage delay and distance. In addition to offering research avenues for future studies, our findings suggest managerial and policy implications for modifying policies and practices and building capacity to overcome learning blocks in the higher education of LMI countries. The present study contributes to supply chain learning research and our knowledge of the interactions between supply chain management and public policies in the public sector. Although the results are drawn from a single case study, the findings are generalizable to other LMI countries and certain countries in East Asia and Eastern Europe that have centralized HE systems and have practiced HE massification while limiting autonomy for HEIs.