North-South technology transfer through licensing

The incentives of Southern governments to protect intellectual property rights are examined when Northern innovating firms license technology to Southern firms in a game with asymmetric information. Southern firms may or may not be able to imitate after they license the technology, and Northern firms do not know whether the Southern firm can imitate. The form of the licensing contract and the distribution of the gains from licensing will affect the incentives of Southern countries to protect patents. Southern consumers gain from patent infringement but at the expense of Southern firms that cannot acquire licenses at the most favorable terms.     

Technology,innovation and knowledge: The importance of ideas and international connectivity

The relevance of ideas is at the core of the IB field and has been captured in concepts like technology, innovation and knowledge. While these concepts have evolved over the last decades, the point that the ideas and the international connectivity are central for IB remains genuine. This paper is an attempt to take stock of the evolution of the concepts technology, innovation and knowledge in IB literature along the past five decades with a particular focus on the role of the Columbia Journal of World Business (CJWB) and the Journal of World Business (JWB) in this evolution. Likewise, our objective is to offer a research agenda for the coming decade. We proceed in two steps. First, we scrutinize how the IB literature has progressed and expanded over the last five decades, illustrating this on the basis of articles published in CJWB and JWB. Second, we take a helicopter view on this literature and reflect on the insights we have gained and the challenges the IB field has ahead that can constitute the basis for a future research agenda. We highlight the importance of creating a micro-foundation of knowledge processes where mechanisms on the interaction between the higher levels (nation, firm, teams) and the individual level are clarified.     

The technology transfer paradox

This paper examines whether a country that enjoys a superior technology in all commodities in a two-country, multi-commodity Ricardian setting could actually gain if its technology in which it possesses its greatest comparative advantage is stolen or transferred to the other country without any compensation. Such a paradoxical possibility is shown always to exist with a finite number of commodities and equal-shared Cobb-Douglas demand conditions for certain ranges of relative country size.     

Product business, foreign direct investment, and licensing: Examining their relationships in international technology exploitation

In the past, most industrial firms focused on internally exploiting technological knowledge in their own products. By contrast, external technology exploitation through out-licensing was primarily an entry mode into foreign markets or into product markets for which a firm had limited complementary assets. Outward technology transfer was mainly regarded as a substitute for foreign direct investment and for a firm's internal product business. The recent trend towards active licensing questions this traditional role of international licensing. To overcome the focus on market entry in prior research, we analyze the motives for technology licensing. On this basis, we use data from 152 firms to test six hypotheses relating product diversification, technological diversification, and foreign direct investment to the extent of technology out-licensing, considering technological turbulence as a moderator. The results provide support for a capability-based understanding of technology licensing, and they may lead us to fundamentally rethink traditional assumptions on the relation between product marketing, foreign direct investment, and licensing.     

Welfare gains from Foreign Direct Investment through technology transfer to local suppliers

We hypothesize that multinational firms operating in emerging markets transfer technology to local suppliers to increase their productivity and to lower input prices. To avoid hold-up by any single supplier, the foreign firm must make the technology widely available. This technology diffusion induces entry and more competition which lowers prices in the supply market. As a result, not just the foreign-owned firm, but all firms downstream of that supply market obtain lower prices. We test this hypothesis using a panel dataset of Indonesian manufacturing establishments. We find strong evidence of productivity gains, greater competition, and lower prices among local firms in markets that supply foreign entrants. The technology transfer is Pareto improving — output and profits increase for firms in both the supplier and buyer sectors. Further, the technology transfer generates an externality that benefits buyers in other sectors downstream from the supply sector as well. This externality may provide a justification for policy intervention to encourage foreign investment.     

Network configuration and innovation success: An empirical analysis in German high-tech industries

Based on the assumption that intensity and structure are the most important dimensions of a firm's technological network, the authors identity seven different types of technology-oriented network configurations. Drawing upon a database of 321 high-tech companies, they show that innovation success is significantly correlated with a firm's technological network. Product and process innovations are shown to demand different types of network configurations.     

Executive Forum: University technology transfer to entrepreneurial companies

This article discusses four dimensions of university–entrepreneurial firm collaboration—(1) industry-sponsored contract research, (2) consulting, (3) technology licensing and (4) technology development and commercialization—of which practitioners involved in university–private sector technology interaction need to be aware. The article identifies specific findings in each of the four areas and suggests important avenues for future work.     

Divergent diffusion: Understanding the interaction between institutions,firms, networks and knowledge in the international adoption of technology

Why do certain technologies diffuse globally while others spread only within certain areas of the world? I analyze the uneven process of international technology diffusion by focusing on how institutions moderate the impact of firm, network, and knowledge characteristics on the adoption of technology. The study shows that better economic institutions lower transformation costs; that similarities across social institutions minimize transmission costs; and that effective political institutions reduce transaction costs for technology diffusion. The impact of each institution-type on the diffusion process is based on the relative weight of the three different knowledge dimensions embedded in the technology. Complex technologies are most affected by economic institutions; tacit technologies are most dependent on social institutions; and systemic technologies are most influenced by political institutions.     

Technology,science and American innovation

This article offers for consideration four propositions about business, government, and innovation in the post-World War Two United States, points which may have a wider resonance as well. They concern the long term role of continuous innovation, technology–science relationships, state-led problem setting for innovation, and the ‘permanent uncertainties’ that arise from Cold War-era technological advance. Each of these has implications for the practice of business history, for conceptualizing innovation, and for our understanding of post-war science–technology trajectories.     

基于技术轨道的战略性新兴产业创新分析

借鉴高新技术产业发展的经验,可以促进战略性新兴产业的发展.通过自主创新技术可以不断深化形成产业技术轨道,同时带动相关产业的不断发展和相关技术的成熟与跨越.     

Willingness-to-engage in technology transfer in industry-university collaborations

Formal collaboration between universities and industries is a recent phenomenon. Currently the role of an industry-university collaboration (IUC) is to close the gap between industry and academia. This study aims to analyze the willingness to engage in technology transfer (TT) in IUCs from the three vantage points of the technology transferor (university), the technology transferee (industry), and the TT intermediary institute. This study mainly observes the pairwise relationships between influencing variables and sub-variables and willingness to participate in TT in an IUC. From the vantage point of universities, this study shows that the “transferor's incentive” and “capability of transferor” variables positively influence willingness to participate in TT in an IUC. From the vantage point of industry, the results indicate that “capability of transferee” and “incentive for establishing technological resources” have major influences on willingness to participate in TT in an IUC. From the vantage point of TT intermediary institutes, the results show that “intermediary's fundamental resources” and “intermediary's transferring process” have a positive impact on willingness to participate in TT in an IUC.     

Local and international knowledge search and product innovation: The moderating role of technology boundary spanning

Drawing on the external knowledge search literature and the literature on international diversification, this study examined the interactive effect of local and international search for new knowledge on product innovation and the moderating role of a firm's technology boundary spanning activities. Specifically, it proposed that extensive local and international search interact to positively predict product innovation success and this relationship is weaker for firms entering a new technology domain. The results using data on 343 Chinese manufacturing firms across 5 industries indicated the support for the predictions.     

Mobility of public researchers, scientific knowledge transfer, and the firm's innovation process

The present study provides evidence on the mobility effects of researchers from the public R&D system with regard to firm's innovation process. This issue is particularly novel and important as these researchers contribute to the production and transfer of knowledge previously developed and accumulated in the public R&D system. The findings confirm that scientific knowledge which public researchers provide has a positive influence on both inputs and outputs of the firms' innovation process. The fact that firms have access to additional knowledge which is complementary to that they already hold represents a spur for exploiting and applying this new knowledge. The firms in this study continually increased their in-house R&D investments. As a result of these investments firms create new knowledge of a unique and valuable type. The study draws two important conclusions geared to providing a greater efficiency in human resource management and to improve the design of technology policies.     

Multilateral alliances and innovation output: The importance of equity and technological scope

The formation of R&D alliances has become an increasingly popular way to achieve improved innovation outcomes. However, R&D alliances face high failure rates due to the dual nature, cooperation and competition, of what can be a very challenging inter-firm relationship, a problem that is compounded when an alliance involves more than two partners. As such, it is important to understand the mechanisms that encourage cooperation in multilateral alliances to help firms achieve desired innovation outcomes. In this study, we hypothesize two such mechanisms: equity governance structure and multi-technology scope. We test our hypotheses using panel data from the pharmaceutical industry spanning 15 years. Our results support the idea that equity governance and having a multiple technology scope are positively related to innovation outcomes in multilateral alliances.     

On the role of alliance management capability,organizational compatibility,and interaction quality in interorganizational technology transfer

Interorganizational technology transfer (ITT) is a key component of firms' innovation processes. ITT involves purposeful, goal-oriented interactions between two or more organizations to exchange technological knowledge and/or artifacts and rights. Using the relational view, this study develops and empirically tests a research framework that incorporates key factors of technology transfer success to answer three questions: (1) How do various managerial routines and procedures that as a whole reflect a firm's alliance management capability influence interaction quality in ITT? (2) How does interaction quality in turn influence technology transfer success? (3) Which configurations of organizational and interactional factors contribute to technology transfer success? By examining the causal chain from alliance management capability through interorganizational interaction quality to technology transfer success, this study explains linkages between important antecedents and consequences of interaction quality and thus contributes to a better understanding of the interorganizational exchange processes that determine technology transfer success.     

Demand pull and technology push perspective in technology-based innovations for the points of sale: The retailers evaluation

Despite the consumers' increasing demand of technology-based innovations for making stores more appealing and the huge availability of advanced technologies, there is still a lack of research on the retailers' and employees' points of views towards the introduction of these systems. In fact, an efficient innovation should take care of both the final users/consumers' and the retailers/employees' needs and expectations. Hence, the aim of this study is to advance our knowledge on retailers' pull of new technologies for improving their job in accordance with the most recent systems, as well as on the main characteristics of these innovations for defining a new integrative framework of analysis and development.     

关于国际科技组织议题设置的几点思考

本文以中国科协及所属全国学会加入的具有代表性的国际科技组织为研究对象,通过搜集梳理其关注的议题,总结归纳并分析了议题特点。本文认为在国际科技组织中设置长期议题应具备国际视角与专业视野、关注人类福祉与共同利益、围绕组织建设与标准制定,设置短期议题应关注热点事件与全球短期发展目标,长短期议题均应关注跨学科的综合研究问题。     

International linkages and productivity at the plant level: Foreign direct investment, exports, imports and licensing

Productivity growth may be affected particularly for developing countries by international linkages or technology transfer. We evaluate relationships between productivity and FDI, exports, imports and licensing for Turkish manufacturing plants in the apparel, textiles, and motor vehicles industries. We assess performance premia associated with these international technology transfer channels that control for plant size and location. We then use a structural model to allow for plant-specific input composition and interactions, estimated alternatively by quantile regression and semi-parametric techniques to recognize plant heterogeneity and to accommodate simultaneity and selection issues. Overall, we find that productivity is most closely related to foreign ownership, especially for larger plants and in combination with other forms of technology transfer, followed by exporting and then licensing.     

Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating competitive advantage through streams of innovation

In today's fast-paced competitive environment, firms face the need to be increasingly nimble and adaptive. While often able to establish a certain level of performance based upon existing technologies, firms are equally as often to be left flat-footed in the face of emerging, novel technologies. We discuss strategic entrepreneurship as the means through which firms simultaneously exploit their current competitive advantages while exploring for future opportunities. Achieving a balance between exploration and exploitation consists of more than merely allocating resources evenly between the two processes. As discussed, exploration and exploitation are operationally, structurally, and culturally distinct processes.     

Induced clean technology adoption and international trade with heterogeneous firms

This paper introduces an environmental externality and factor-biased technology adoption into a trade model with heterogeneous firms. This study explores how firms’ decisions of technology adoption and of exports are affected by openness to trade and the stringency of environmental regulations. It shows that: (1) these decisions induced by tightened environmental policies depend upon whether the upgraded technology is labor-biased or emission-biased; (2) the environmental impact of trade cost reductions on the aggregate emissions and price of emissions permits varies with the factor-biased feature; and (3) regardless of the factor-biased feature, the trade cost reduction induces firms to export and to upgrade the factor-biased technology, while it forces the least productive firms to exit the market. Moreover, the model is further calibrated to simulate policy scenarios of bilateral and unilateral variations in trade variable costs and environmental policies. The bilateral reduction of emissions cap may contribute to welfare gains in both home and foreign countries. The unilateral action of tightening environmental policy in the home country may hurt the home country, but makes the foreign country better off.