Technological collaboration: problems and pitfalls

There is an increasing trend for interconnections between all nations of the world owing to the widespread globalization of industrial production, inputs sourcing and outputs marketing. A further reason is the raised awareness of global consequences, resulting from natural resources depletion and apparently localized environmental degradation activities by industries. Much of this ever-growing and complex interdependence has been possible as a result of a host of unprecedented technologial achievements in the past few deades, which have enabled industrial enterprises in developed countries to accomplish an increased degree of flexibility, through automated manufacturing, to combine economies of sale, through process standardization, with economies of scope, through product differentiation, and to acheive quicker response times to customers7apos; prefernces and market demands. Simultaneously, in most developing countries, there is also an observable undercurrent of deregulation, privatization or corporatization, and open international market competition for industrial development. In this present era of new internationalism, technology management has become one of the main strategic priorities, because it provides the vital factor underpinning the survival and prosperity of industrial enterprises everywhere. Hence, given the recognition that the key competitive advantage in the international market-place nowadays is the ability of an enterprise continuously to introduce technological innovations faster than others, the need for endogenous technology capacity building can hardly be overmphasized. This paper presents a general framework for the development of a set of technology indicators which could be useful for assesing industrial investment projects funded by an international or national development finance institutino. The framework attempts to integrate business and technology strategies particularly in the context of developing countries. Starting with consideration of the unique characteristics of technolgoy at the firm level, and using a systems analysis approach to the market structure, possible strategic mixed are determined by considering four business stratetgies—price, value, niche and green leadership—and four technology strategies—technology leader, follower, exploiter and extender. The necessary considerations for a technological capability enhancement and palusible technology strategy rogression path are also discussed for different development conditions. The analytical measures presented in this paper are focused on such important aspects as the degree of technology component sophistication, the level of technology capability advancement, the status of technology infrasturcture building, and the dynamism of technology climate, all of which could be used for investment project review and appraisal undertaken by iunternational and national development finance institutions.     

Project evaluation framework for industrial technology capacity enhancement

There is an increasing trend for interconnections between all nations of the world owing to the widespread globalization of industrial production, inputs sourcing and outputs marketing. A further reason is the raised awareness of global consequences, resulting from natural resources depletion and apparently localized environmental degradation activities by industries. Much of this ever-growing and complex interdependence has been possible as a result of a host of unprecedented technologial achievements in the past few deades, which have enabled industrial enterprises in developed countries to accomplish an increased degree of flexibility, through automated manufacturing, to combine economies of sale, through process standardization, with economies of scope, through product differentiation, and to acheive quicker response times to customers7apos; prefernces and market demands. Simultaneously, in most developing countries, there is also an observable undercurrent of deregulation, privatization or corporatization, and open international market competition for industrial development. In this present era of new internationalism, technology management has become one of the main strategic priorities, because it provides the vital factor underpinning the survival and prosperity of industrial enterprises everywhere. Hence, given the recognition that the key competitive advantage in the international market-place nowadays is the ability of an enterprise continuously to introduce technological innovations faster than others, the need for endogenous technology capacity building can hardly be overmphasized. This paper presents a general framework for the development of a set of technology indicators which could be useful for assesing industrial investment projects funded by an international or national development finance institutino. The framework attempts to integrate business and technology strategies particularly in the context of developing countries. Starting with consideration of the unique characteristics of technolgoy at the firm level, and using a systems analysis approach to the market structure, possible strategic mixed are determined by considering four business stratetgies—price, value, niche and green leadership—and four technology strategies—technology leader, follower, exploiter and extender. The necessary considerations for a technological capability enhancement and palusible technology strategy rogression path are also discussed for different development conditions. The analytical measures presented in this paper are focused on such important aspects as the degree of technology component sophistication, the level of technology capability advancement, the status of technology infrasturcture building, and the dynamism of technology climate, all of which could be used for investment project review and appraisal undertaken by iunternational and national development finance institutions.     

Models for innovation diffusion: Vijay Mahajan and Robert A. Peterson; A Sage University Series on “Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences,” No. 07-048, Sage, Beverly Hills, 1985.

Developing countries wish to achieve in a few decades what the developed countries accomplished in many centuries under conditions of relatively lesser resource constraints. Therefore, the developing countries cannot emulate the evolutionary experiences of the developed countries; they need a revolutionary approach in their development strategies. One plausible option for this revolutionary orientation could be the utilization of a technology-based strategy for national development planning. This article proposes undertaking certain measurement activities with respect to the technological system of a country, which would enable national decision makers to use technology as a strategic variable for socioeconomic development. The article briefly describes the role of technology as the master key for sustainable development, discusses the current activities related to the measurement of technology, presents a few conceptual schemes, and a framework for the assessment of national technological capabilities and needs.     

美国全球科技创新计划的实施成效及启示

美国国务院于2011年启动了全球科技创新计划,利用创业训练营、创新创业大赛、投资者培训、孵化器项目、创新中心、在线帮助平台及学员网络等手段,开展“科技外交”,搭建与发展中国家和新兴经济体间科技交流的桥梁。本文对全球科技创新计划发起的背景和实施等进行了系统分析研究,评价了其实施成效,并从深化科技外交、全面融入全球创新网络、优化项目管理流程及科学适度宣传四个方面提出了对我国与发展中国家特别是与“一带一路”沿线国家科技合作的启示。     

Implementing a technology strategy in developing countries: The experience of the Indonesian rolling stock industry

Integration of business and technology strategies is an attractive approach for industries in developing countries. However, to be successful, these strategies cannot be implemented according to a company's objectives alone regardless of the involvement of other players. Furthermore, consideration of interrelated technologies should be included if a product resulting from the strategy is expected to perform well and be sustainable. This article attempts to give a broader view of factors to be considered in implementing business technology strategies in developing countries. Supporting evidence is given from the rolling stock industry in Indonesia, which has been implementing a type of business technology strategy.     

International diffusion of embodied and disembodied technology: A network analysis approach

This study proposes a quantitative method for investigating the structure of international technology diffusion. By using network analysis, this study defines the structural configuration of each country within the international diffusion network by measuring its degree, closeness, and betweenness centralities. In addition, this study distinguishes between embodied technology diffusion, measured by multilateral trade, and disembodied technology diffusion, measured by patent citations, in individual countries. This study empirically tests a sample data set of international technology diffusion taken from 48 countries. The empirical results show that the structural configuration of countries exhibits similar patterns in both embodied and disembodied diffusion networks. Significant global stratification patterns exist in the capability of national international technology exportation and brokerage advantages. Moreover, this study distinguishes four blocks of countries that play different roles in international technology diffusion: the leading countries provide a source of technological knowledge; an intermediate group diffuses the knowledge acquired from the source; a third group is in the process of initiating the export of technological knowledge; and a final group of countries absorbs technological knowledge without reciprocal exportation. Finally, this study identifies two types of catch-up strategies that newly industrialized or developing countries can use to move up the international technology stratification.     

企业竞争优势、战略选择与业绩增长模型——基于我国高科技天生全球化企业的跨案例研究

针对我国高科技天生全球化企业的竞争优势、战略选择与业绩增长间的关系进行了跨案例研究。指出:此类企业在发展初期的竞争优势主要表现在技术创新、网络关系、品牌声誉和信息化四个方面;这些竞争优势决定了企业采取差异化和集聚两种竞争战略,在业务层面具体表现为技术领先、以B2B营销模式为主、以ODM品牌模式为主和采用多种类型的国际化方式;企业的竞争战略反过来促进其竞争优势的提升;业绩增长是竞争优势和竞争战略共同作用的结果。     

外包与技术转移:基于发展中国家异质性模仿的分析

本文构建了一个模型来研究外包以及依附于外包活动中的技术转移,对发展中国家经济发展的多重影响效应.我们的研究表明,在发展中国家为低模仿类型时,外包活动中发达国家对发展中国家的技术转移,有利于发达国家与发展中国家双方的福利增进;在发展中国家为高模仿类型时,技术转移有利于发达国家,而不利于发展中国家可持续发展能力的培育.我们的研究支持这样一种观点:外包条件下发达国家对发展中国家的技术转移,并不必然会带来发展中国家的经济可持续增长,一个不可忽略的必要条件是,发展中国家自身制度条件制约了外包与技术转移对发展中国家可持续发展能力的作用.     

Technology evaluation in Taiwan's technology industries: Strategies, trajectories, and innovations

Technology evaluation, as an organizational process, is the essential ability to comprehend the values of technologies very soon after they emerge. Meanwhile, the technology evaluation process is inevitably influenced by the firm's industrial context, such as its technological trajectory. This study defines technology evaluation strategy in terms of the processes, methods, and participants involved, and uses this definition as a taxonomy to explore different types of technology evaluation strategies. A survey on the technological industries is conducted to explore types of technology evaluation strategies and their relationships with the advantages of different types of innovation under the effects of different technological trajectories. The survey identifies four types of technology evaluation strategies, namely, those of the flexible executive strategist, the emergent executive intuitionist, the deliberate quantitative strategist, and the deliberate consensual strategist, are identified. This study has found that certain types of technology evaluation strategies have better innovation performances than the others. The patterns of technological trajectories are also found to influence a firm's technology evaluation strategy and the advantages of certain types of innovations. The established explanations of the relationships among the technological trajectory, innovation type, and technology evaluation strategies may guide technology businesses to develop a better technology evaluation capability. The theoretical framework developed in this research enriches the strategic management literature with a new taxonomy for technology evaluation strategies.     

Labor productivity and technology heterogeneity

This paper investigates the role of technology club heterogeneity in economic growth and convergence. To do so, we break up labor productivity change into three factors – efficiency, technological, and capital–labor ratio changes – while distinguishing the impact of technology club heterogeneity respectively. This allows us to observe what is happening within and between clubs; as well as between the world and club technologies. Our labor productivity decomposition is nonparametric in nature and thus overcomes the issue of specifying functional forms for the club technologies. Our results reveal the existence of technology heterogeneity and divergence: the world technology is defined by advanced and rich countries; there exists intra-convergence phenomena (mostly due to capital–labor ratio change), but inter-convergences (owning to capital–labor ratio and technological changes) are not found. Finally, we argue that follower and marginalized countries have adopted imitating strategies, but with respect to different dimensions, namely technological change or capital–labor ratio.     

The radio frequency identification industry development strategies of Asian countries

The radio frequency identification (RFID) system uses radio waves to remotely capture and process information stored in a tiny silicon chip. Having the potential to replace bar codes on consumer products, RFID technology can enhance the efficiency in material handling/transportation and provide more intelligence in business transactions. Although there are challenges and obstacles with the adoption of RFID in businesses worldwide, governments of a few Asian countries have established proactive policies and have taken supportive actions to facilitate the development of this emerging industry. This research summarises the approaches, progress and the development strategies of RFID in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore. The visions and strategies in developing RFID industries in these countries could provide references for other countries.     

Technological innovation governance for winning the future

Both developed and developing worlds today face significant economic crises. For winning their future, all countries will have to boost their capacity to innovate. Since technological innovation has now become the mantra for employment generation through growth of exported goods and to ensure sustained economic growth, current national technological innovation capacity governance policies need to be grounded on four basic pillars: (1) adopting an actionable taxonomy of technological system components utilized by enterprises operating in the fiercely competitive global marketplace; (2) relying on greater public-private partnership for targeted specialization in emerging technology industries; (3) complementing research-university-linked incubators with metropolis-based innovation hotspots; and (4) mandating a prioritized choice criteria function for technological innovation project funding. Why these pillars are important and how to strengthen national technological innovation capacity building-blocks are described in this essay on the basis of lessons learned from studies in many Asian developing countries and some developed countries of the world.     

Technology policies and strategies for developing countries: lessons from the Korean experience

Industrial developement is a process of acquiring technological capabilities in the course of continuous technological change. Korea has made phenomenal growth in accumulating technological capabilities in the past 30 years. Despite is current financial crisis, it has a strong technological base to expand the modern sectors efficiently. This paper presents two analytical frameworks-technology trajectory framework and technology policy/strategy framework-which may be used as tools to analyze technology policies and strategies in developing countries. It then discusses implications of the Korean experience for other developing countires.     

Inflows of Foreign Technology and Indigenous Technological Development

This paper explores the effects of inflows of foreign technology on technological development in developing countries. It evaluates the existing literature exploring this issue and indicates directions for further research. In particular, it is argued that the implications of the theory of foreign direct investment (the dominant channel of international technology transfer) for technological development have not been fully explored. Dynamic analyses of technology transfer that accommodate the salient features of developing countries have also begun to appear only recently. Further work along these lines is likely to yield rich dividends.     

Dynamic Analysis of Imitation and Technology Gap

This paper investigates how imitation activities affect the technology gap between developing and developed countries using a North-South model in which the variety of goods is expanding over time. If imitation productivity is high enough, nonrivalrous ideas and inexpensive labor enables developing countries to reduce their technological backwardness by imitating products even if their initial level of technology is far behind the technology in developed countries. We also show that the rise of imitation productivity may benefit both developing and developed countries if they prefer a sufficient variety of goods.     

Coordinating R&D and business planning

In order for US companies to become more competitive they need to improve coordination between their R&D and business planning. This article explanis what is known about coordinating R&D and business palnning, and provides guidance on how to improve it. It examines the development of a technology plan. Before a company can effectively deal with issues related to coordinating R&D and business planning, the R&D organization should understand its own capabilities through developing a technology plan. The intergration of technology planning with business planning is then examined. Two types of business palns are considered in relation to technology planning-product line strategies and a long-range business plan. Finally, the problem of definning on R&D organization's mission clearly is looked at.     

技术进步、优势转换与中国FDI的发展

技术进步、全球化的深入发展改变了发展中国家FDI的相对技术优势,自动化控制技术的发展使小规模定制成为一种时尚,大大降低了规模经济的门槛,使发展中国家原有的小规模技术优势不断弱化,全球化导致的全球消费文化的趋同也大大削弱了发展中国家固有的技术地方化优势;但技术进步导致的产业链拉长,各国产业结构差异的扩大却进一步提升了发展中国家的边际产业比较优势和技术创新升级优势;技术与分工的复杂化,基于价值链和竞合原则的现代分工模式也使逆向技术整合,新产业的蛙跳成为可能,也使所有权优势,内部化优势和区位优势成为自足的对外直接投资条件,进一步增加了发展中国家对外直接投资的机会。只有充分认识到技术进步对发展中国家相对技术优势带来的影响,我们才能抓住技术进步带来的机遇,促进中国跨国企业FDI的更大发展。     

Global Technology Policies for Economic Growth

With the end of the Cold War, nations throughout the world are placing ever greater emphasis on economic growth. Over the last 50 years, advances in technology have been the single most important factor in creating growth in many economies, and thus policies to promote technological innovation rank high on the list of priorities for both developed and developing countries. In general, as countries progress up the economic ladder, national R&D intensity, (i.e., R&D/GDP), tends to increase along with per capita income. In addition, nations move through a discernible sequence of technology policies from an initial focus on infrastructure, through a set of actions designed to encourage technology acquisition from more advanced economies, to comprehensive education and research agendas targeted to the creation and development of new technology. In the United States, national technology policy for economic growth focuses on education, building a 21st century infrastructure, and creating a business climate that encourages growth, technological innovation, and risk taking.Throughout the last 50 years there have been significant changes in the competitive position of nations. In recent years, U.S. corporations have regained some of the competitive leadership they lost in the 1980s. This has been accompanied by significantly increased R&D spending by U.S. industry, particularly in the information and health care related sectors. U.S. industry funding of R&D overtook that from the government in the early 1980s and accounts for almost two-thirds of the national total.     

2007-2011年国外企业孵化器文献计量分析

企业孵化器于20世纪60年代开始兴起,经过50多年的发展,企业孵化器作为推进技术创新的载体受到各国学界、产业界、政界的极大关注。本研究以国外期刊文献为数据源,采用文献计量分析法,对国外2007-2011年以来涉及企业孵化器各个研究领域的相关文献分别从发表年份、刊登期刊、作者合作度、研究方法等方面进行计量分析,并分别对发达国家、新兴工业化国家、发展中国家的企业孵化器的研究进行梳理,以便较全面地认识企业孵化器的发展趋势,为我国孵化器发展提供借鉴。