An evaluation framework for technology transfer of new equipment in high technology industry

With the rapid advancement of technology, product life cycle is shortening continuously. In order to compete against other firms in fiercely competitive global markets, a firm has to keep developing new technology to differentiate itself from others. The acquisition of new core-technology equipment is especially important for manufacturing advanced products, and the technology know-how of the equipment must be transferred completely from equipment supplier to engineers and operators of the firm to effectively utilize the equipment. The objective of this paper is to explore the technology transfer of equipment and to establish a comprehensive framework for evaluating and selecting new equipment with critical technology transfer. Influence factors for technology transfer of new equipment are first collected by literature review and interviews with related experts in the thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) industry in Taiwan. Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is applied next to select the most critical factors. Then, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is employed to determine the interrelationship among the critical factors. A fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) model is constructed to evaluate the technology transfer performance of equipment suppliers. The results of this study should provide a base for firms in evaluating the purchase of new equipment and a reference for equipment suppliers to strengthen their technology transfer process to their buyers.     

Heterogeneous agent modelling of technology adoption in competitive agricultural markets

Slow adoption rates of innovation in rural settings are a source of frustration for technology advocates. Adoption decisions consume two valuable but limited resources: (1) time, and (2) capacity to integrate new information. We explore the structural sociological factors using a heterogeneous agent programming model (HAM) to understand the mechanics of socio-economic linkages of diffusion in rural settings. Diffusion constraints are introduced in the form of network-threshold values that reflect the cumulative effects of experience and observation of peers’ experiences. We test a range of confounding factors and find that strong social pressures dramatically increase both innovation diffusion penetration and irregularity. Clustering is caused by strong social pressures and the aggregation of buyers near innovative firms which creates a pattern of buying explosions. As competition between innovators increases, the resulting diffusion process becomes more variable and irregular and is highly likely to result in innovation monopolies in rural areas.     

Intellectual property rights, technology transfer and exports in developing countries

We develop a model to analyze one mechanism under which stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) protection may improve the ability of firms in developing countries to break into export markets. A Northern firm with a superior process technology chooses either exports or technology transfer through licensing as its mode of supplying the Southern market, based on local IPR policy. Given this decision, the North and South firms engage in Cournot competition in both markets. We find that stronger IPR would enhance technology transfer through licensing and reduce the South firm's marginal production cost, thereby increasing its exports. Welfare in the South would rise (fall) if that country has high (low) absorptive capacity. Excessively strong IPR diminish competition and welfare, however. Adding foreign direct investment as an additional channel of technology transfer sustains these basic messages.     

Estimation of foreign MNEs spillovers in Spain

Using Spanish firm-level data, we estimate productivity effects of spillovers from foreign multinationals to domestic firms in both manufacturing and service sectors. We find evidence of a positive productivity effect from multinationals on domestic firms operating in the same industry. Analyzing inter-industry linkages, we find evidence consistent with positive productivity spillovers from forward linkages (i.e. from suppliers to buyers) and negative productivity spillovers from backward linkages (i.e. from buyers to suppliers). Our main results hold when analyzing differences between multinational and domestic firms, and for periods of economic growth and recession, although some differences arise. Interestingly, we find evidence supporting a positive role of spillovers during the last recession period.     

Vertical technology transfer and the welfare implications of patent protection

Significant amount of vertical technology transfer occurs between developed and developing-country firms, and many trading companies from developing countries create competition in the developed countries, yet the literature on intellectual property rights did not pay considerable attention to these aspects. In a Cournot oligopoly with vertical technology transfer, we show that patent protection in the developing country raises developed-country welfare if the following three conditions hold together: (i) patent protection in the developing country deters entry in the final goods market, (ii) the marginal cost difference between the incumbent and the entrant final goods sellers is sufficiently small, and (iii) the marginal cost difference between the incumbent and the entrant developing-country producers is sufficiently high. We also show that patent protection in the developing country always creates higher developing-country welfare if no developing-country firm enters the final goods market. We also discuss the implications of Bertrand competition on our results.     

Factors affecting technology transfer offices' performance in the Italian food context

In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to the commercialisation of knowledge and technologies developed by universities and public research institutions. A central role in this particular process is played by the technology transfer offices (TTOs), which are on the one hand in charge of promoting the transfer of knowledge and technology to external companies, and on the other hand are also responsible for protecting and licensing the intellectual property of the research organisation. This paper is focused on a TTO operating in the food context, with the specific objectives of identifying the performance indicators and the main factors affecting its performance and, finally, analysing the relationships among these factors. Results highlighted the importance of both external and internal factors for the performance of a TTO operating in this context. In addition, we found both direct and indirect relations within these factors.     

Implementing technology roadmapping with supplier selection for semiconductor manufacturing companies

The rapid pace of technological innovation in the semiconductor manufacturing industry has necessitated the acquisition of competitive advantage from strategic technology planning. The vital requisite for this is well-timed investment including the replacement of old equipment with advanced new equipment. In such investment, selecting the appropriate semiconductor manufacturing equipment from the appropriate supplier is a key factor for successful technology planning. Therefore, equipment supplier selection should be taken into account in the technology planning of semiconductor manufacturing companies. One of the most widely used tools for technology planning is the technology roadmap (TRM). However, conventional TRMs have not considered the task of supplier selection. To address this limitation, this study proposes an extended, four-layered TRM that adds the layer of equipment supplier to the conventional layers of market, product, and technology. The equipment suppliers to be included in the new layer are selected from the supplier portfolio matrix composed of two performance axes: supplier performance and equipment performance. The candidates of equipment suppliers are placed on the supplier portfolio matrix according to the values of two axes determined by evaluation using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The proposed TRM is expected to be useful for technology planning by adding a consideration for equipment supplier selection in semiconductor manufacturing companies.     

考虑技术和学习率因素下供应链生产跨国转移策略分析

国内企业为了巩固市场地位和规避市场风险,纷纷走出去在海外投资建厂,建立生产基地,谋求海外发展,以增强其核心竞争能力。在技术转移和学习率影响下,文章考虑生产地所在东道国的不确定性和生产不同技术层次产品的多样性,建立了供应链生产跨国转移的数学模型,给出了模型求解的算法,并对算例进行了分析。结果发现,技术转移率在(0.6,1)和学习率在(0.8,0.95)的区间时,对生产跨国转移最为适宜,并且发现在学习率、通货膨胀率和汇率三个影响因素对基于生产跨国转移的整个供应链利润的影响都是很明显的,其中汇率对利润最敏感,通货膨胀率次之,学习率敏感性最弱。     

Multinational Firms and Technology Transfer

We construct an oligopoly model in which a multinational firm has a superior technology compared to local firms. Workers employed by the multinational acquire knowledge of its superior technology. The multinational may pay a wage premium to prevent local firms from hiring its workers and thus gaining access to their knowledge. In this setting, the host government has an incentive to attract FDI due to technology transfer to local firms or the wage premium earned by employees of the multinational firm. However, when FDI is particularly attractive to the multinational firm, the host government has an incentive to discourage FDI.
JEL classification : F 13; F 23; J 41; L 13; O 14; O 33; O 38     

Structural equation model for predicting technology commercialization success index (TCSI)

Expecting high return, many firms try to invest on R&D of new technology. However, critical loss of assets would occur, when a firm fails to commercialize the developed technology. It would be of interest to provide the ideal environment for commercialization from the R&D stage. In this study, we use a structural equation model (SEM) to forecast the technology commercialization success index (TCSI) in relation to technology developer, technology receiver, technology transfer center, and environmental factors. The proposed SEM is fitted based on partial least square (PLS) estimation procedure. Individual TCSI is then found following the approach used for American customer satisfaction index (ACSI) for various combinations of characteristics of the type of technology, technology receiver, and technology developer. We expect that the proposed approach for TCSI can be used as guidance for an ideal match of technology with technology developer and technology receiver.