An empirical investigation of the roles of prior knowledge and learning activities in technology transfer

This study analyzes 120 university–industry technology transfer projects. A significant positive relationship was found between the learning activities performed by the firm during the development and implementation stages of the technology transfer project and the benefits to that firm from the project. In contrast, prior knowledge of the firm about the existing technology was found to have only a marginal contribution to the project benefits. However, further exploratory analysis based on high and low levels of technical and organizational uncertainty revealed more provocative relationships.     

New technology,human resources and competitiveness in developing countries: the role of technology transfer

Technology transfer is widely seen as an important means by which developing countries can both acquire the technologies and develop the human resources needed to compete internationally. However, there are different types of technology transfer which may stimulate or inhibit local human resource development. Foreign direct investment may inhibit local human resource development unless the foreign partner is committed to the indigenous enterprise becoming internationally competitive. Technology transfer through licensing and off-the shelf purchase allows greater indigenous management autonomy which, together with the more direct exposure to international competitive forces, may be more conducive to indigenous human resource development.     

企业核心能力:制造业和服务业的差异分析

文章论述了企业核心能力主要内涵,并对企业核心竞争力在制造业和服务业两个行业的不同方面进行了比较详细的说明。     

中国汽车工业中技术转移对技术进步影响的实证分析

本文对我国汽车工业1997到2008年时间序列数据,应用Engle—Granger协整检验和格兰杰因果关系检验的方法,就技术转移对技术进步的影响进行实证分析。结果表明,在我国的汽车工业中,技术转移与技术进步存在长期稳定关系,技术转移并没有促进技术进步,而技术进步促进了技术转移。最后,基于这个实证结果,本文提出了相应的政策与建议。     

Technology transfer organizations: Services and business models

Knowledge and technology transfer organizations (KTTOs) are crucial nodes connecting suppliers and users of knowledge that support the endogenous potential of innovation in firms. Prior studies on the services provided to firms by KTTOs tend to have weak theoretical foundations, to rely on case study approaches, and to focus attention on one service or a few services provided by a single organization. This study extends and integrates elements from a conceptual knowledge value chain and business model frameworks. The value chain perspective allows integrating the services offered by KTTOs in the value chain of firms. As for the business model perspective, it allows developing hypotheses about how KTTOs create and deliver value for client firms. To test these hypotheses, we collected and analyzed a data set of 281 publicly supported KTTOs located in Canada. The empirical results show that different types of KTTOs tend to specialize in the provision of services at different stages of the value chain of firms, and to benefit from complementarity effects between service offerings. Our analysis also shows that different types of KTTOs devise different types of business models that are centered on services linked to different stages of the value chain. Overall, these results suggest that managers of KTTOs could improve their business models and increase value to client firms by increasing the degree of customization of solutions offered to clients which, in turn, would also increase revenues from clients, and hence reduce KTTOs′ vulnerability to reductions in government funding.     

Learning in university technology transfer offices: transactions-focused and relations-focused approaches to commercialization of academic research

University Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) need a wide range of abilities to facilitate commercial exploitation of research outputs; however, we know relatively little about how these important abilities are developed and refined over time. We draw on practice-based studies of learning to create a novel conceptualization of learning processes and their outcomes in TTOs and show that this conceptualization of learning provides new empirical insights into how learning in TTOs shapes their commercialization practice. We investigate learning-in-practice in case studies of six UK TTOs and find two approaches to commercialization, namely transactions-focused practice and relations-focused practice. We find that both practices co-exist and co-evolve in some TTOs while other TTOs are predominantly transactions-focused. For the latter the development of a relations-focused approach is difficult, but possible if there is strategic direction and if sources of inertia are removed by TTO directors. Given that evolving practice cannot be fully explained by informal learning processes, we suggest that so far separate streams of practice-based literature on learning and strategizing should be brought together. The implications for further investigations of TTO abilities and some recommendations for policy and practice are discussed.     

发达国家科技政策导向及其启示

当今世界,科技政策已成为许多国家尤其是美、日、欧等发达国家全力打造科技强国的基本的公共政策。文章从国家战略引导产业发展、国家政策促进产业发展、全力追求知识与技术创新、注重培养和吸纳优秀人才等4个方面对此进行了探析。     

论我国建筑业技术创新存在的主要问题与对策

在我国建筑业技术创新是一种必然趋势.本文剖析了我国建筑业技术创新存在的主要问题,并根据问题产生的原因,针对性地提出了解决问题的对策,以期能对推进我国建筑业技术创新有所裨益.     

论我国建筑企业技术创新战略的选择和运用

随着加入世贸组织和全球经济一体化的迅速推进,我国建筑业面临日益激烈的竞争环境,如何提高企业竞争力,抢占技术制高点已经成为企业必须面对的主要问题。文章从这一背景出发,在考虑了建筑业技术创新特点的基础上,提出了建筑业企业技术创新战略的选择及运用思路。     

Incubator,technology, and innovation centres in Switzerland: features and policy implications

Only since the early 1990s, when unemployment rates in Switzerland soared to unprecedented levels, has federal technology and innovation policy begun to design their activities with regard to employment and the establishment of new firms. Now, all across the country, private as well as public incubator facilities, technology and innovation centres have begun to spring up. This paper starts by describing the theoretical and methodological background of a survey of incubator, technology and innovation (ITI) centres. In a first step, all cantonal offices for economic promotion were asked to report and to describe incubator facilities, technology and innovation centres within their realm. In a second step a selection of centres were analysed in depth. The key findings are that: (1) ITI centres are most commonly established by a combination of public and private initiatives; (2) the main motive for the creation of ITI centres is to promote startups and the innovative potential; (3) most ITI centres offer space to rent and make available joint amenities; (4) ITI centres are predominantly in manufacturing, services, and development activities; their level of technology input is high or very high; and (5) the spatial reach of most of the ITI centre is on the region. Together with selected foreign experiences, some conclusions and recommendations for the operation of such centres are formulated.     

中国土地出让金与GDP关系研究

研究目的:揭示土地出让金与GDP之间的作用性质和作用程度。研究方法:Granger因果检验,广义脉冲响应和方差分解分析。研究结果:Granger检验结果显示土地出让金收入对GDP存在单向的显著可信的Granger因果关系,广义脉冲响应和方差分解结果显示,土地出让金对GDP的影响大于GDP对土地出让金的影响。研究结论:土地出让金对GDP有着显著的单向作用,GDP对土地出让金有较强的依赖性;而经济波动对土地出让金的影响不明显。     

Defining and improving technology transfer business and management processes in university innovation centres

The complex and dynamic behaviour associated with technology transfer business processes combined with the technological risk involved in the participating small firms, has led to a lack of business process definition and improvement in this area. Furthermore, the embryonic firms are highly individualistic with differing needs for assistance and development. There may also be a tendency to provide infrastructure and basic services with an avoidance of business process definition and hence, improvement.The aim of this paper is to investigate how potential business and management inputs can be used to define and to suggest improvements for two key technology transfer business processes, namely the technology licensing process and the business building process.A stratified pathway process mapping approach is used. This research approach includes semi-structured interviews with University Innovation Centre small firms, focus groups with Innovation Centre stakeholders and best practice benchmarking.The findings indicate that a modified processual approach can be adopted to define key business processes within technology transfer. Using this approach it is possible to show where business and management interventions can most effectively be deployed in each process.     

Knowledge transfer in acquisitions: Fear of exploitation and contamination

Knowledge transfer plays an important role in the creation of synergies in acquisitions. Acquisitions provide opportunities for learning and are often justified on the basis of the new knowledge made available or created by them. Nevertheless, we do not know enough about the factors that influence knowledge transfer in the context of acquisitions. This paper focuses on the motivation on part of individuals in the acquiring and target companies to share their knowledge and make use of the knowledge of their partner. More specifically, it is hypothesised that the fear of being exploited or contaminated by the other party will have a profound negative effect on the transfer of knowledge in acquisitions. These hypotheses are tested on a sample of acquisitions by Finnish companies in 2001–2004 and they are largely supported by the empirical analyses.     

Technology sourcing and outward FDI: A study of IT industry in India

Dunning’s eclectic or the OLI framework suggests that MNCs exist and grow due to possession of ownership (O) advantages consisting of the tangible and intangible assets of the firm (including technology); location (L) advantages consisting of production factors such as transportation, infrastructure, and human and natural resources available in the host country; and internalisation (I) advantages owing to firm’s competitive advantage in producing internally rather than selling or licensing technologies to others. There are several studies that have analysed MNCs of developed country origin from the perspective of both developed (home) and other developed or developing (host) countries. Recently, however, MNCs from developing countries are also making their presence felt in the world. Yet, there are hardly any studies that analyse MNCs of developing country origin.Using data on 130 firms from the high-tech Information Technology (IT) industry of India, we investigate whether ownership advantages (O), as proposed in the eclectic theory, holds true for the presence of MNCs from developing countries. Specifically, we analyse whether firm-specific technological advantages generated through differential technology sourcing at home (India) are important in determining inter-firm differences in the decision to invest abroad. The technological sources considered are in-house R&D efforts, import of designs, drawing and blueprints, and import of capital goods. The study reveals that in-house R&D efforts are indeed important for the firms to invest abroad. Size and export intensity of the firm also influence the decision of the firm to invest abroad. The study recommends a proper innovation and resource management strategy for developing country firms for efficient allocation of resources, technology sourcing, and technology assimilation.     

A multiple group analysis of the training transfer model: exploring the differences between high and low performers in a Korean insurance company

This study suggests an integrative transfer of training model and examines the influence of pre-training performance on the relationship between work environment variables and transfer-related variables. Structural equation modeling was conducted with data collected from 365 Korean employees of a large general insurance firm. They were all participants in a leadership development program. The results of multi-group analyses revealed that the influence of work environment variables on transfer-related variables was moderated by employees' pre-training performance. The findings of the study imply that a more elaborate training transfer model that considers performance not just as an outcome variable, but also as an antecedent variable is required. Also, it is proposed that different strategies should be applied to promote transfer of training based on the employee's level of pre-training performance.     

Regional competence and economic recovery: divergent growth paths in Boston's high technology economy

Since the 1960s, the growth of high technology industries in Boston's Route 128 region has attracted the attention of academics, planners and politicians. What was especially remarkable about the region was the capability of its economic base to recover from major structural crises. Owing to this ability, the region is often looked at as being an American example of an industrial district. In contrast to Silicon Valley, however, Boston does not readily fit into the definition of an industrial district because of the dominance of large, vertically-integrated producers and the proprietary nature of high technology production. In the late 1980s, Boston was hit by an additional structural crisis when the minicomputer industry lost its competitive basis and defence expenditures were drastically reduced. As a result, almost 50000 high technology manufacturing jobs were cut between 1987 and 1997. This paper aims to identify the forces behind the region's economic recovery in the mid-1990s and relate these findings to the discussion of the importance of collective learning processes in industrial production and the development of localized competencies. In the literature, it is argued that firm-specific competencies and learning processes can lead to a regional competitive advantage if they are based on localized capabilities (e.g. specialized resources, skills, conventions and institutions). The author will demonstrate in an explorative way that the economic recovery of the Boston region is related to a number of specific forces that differ greatly between the subsectors of the high technology economy. I will also provide tentative evidence of how the willingness to co-operate and engage in interactive learning processes has encouraged economic recovery.     

Monitoring process quality in off-shore outsourcing: A model and findings from multi-country survey

We investigate how recent advances in information technology and telecommunications have led to real-time monitoring of processes at the site of the provider by a buyer located across the globe. We construct a game-theoretic model of the dynamics of the buyer–supplier interaction in the presence of moral hazard and incomplete contracting. We derive the Minimum Quality Threshold (MQT) below which the provider's output will certainly be inspected. Our findings show that the buyer can pick a level of monitoring and thereby force the provider to exceed the quality level of the MQT in output quality and avoid costly and wasteful inspection. Finally, our model explains why the production of processes that are complex and more prone to errors are actually monitored less by the buyers. We furnish the results of a comprehensive, multi-year, multi-country survey of the efficacy of monitoring in off-shore outsourcing projects and demonstrate strong empirical support for the findings of the model.     

企业股权结构与股权转让效率——以中国大陆A股上市公司为例

通过对中国大陆A股上市公司股权转让数据的分析表明,企业股权转让更容易发生在股权较为分散的公司中,但是股权转让后的企业效率并没有明显的改善,公司控制权的转移往往对企业绩效产生负面的影响。由此可见,通过鼓励企业股权结构分散化并对控制权私人收益加以必要的管制,对提高股权转让的效率将起到非常重要的作用。     

Learning and technological capability building in emerging economies: The case of the biomass power equipment industry in Malaysia

There is increasing recognition that the transfer of foreign technology to developing countries should be considered in light of broader processes of learning, technological capability, formation and industrial development. Previous studies that have looked at this in the context of cleantech industries in emerging economies tend to overlook firm-level specifics. This paper contributes to filling this gap by utilising in-depth qualitative firm-level data to analyse the extent to which the use of different learning mechanisms can explain differences in the accumulation of technological capabilities. This is explored via an examination of eight firms in the biomass power equipment industry in Malaysia during the period 1970–2011. The paper finds that firms relying on a combination of learning from foreign technology partners and internal learning by planned experimentation make most progress in terms of technological capability. Nevertheless, local spill-over effects were found to be important for some firms who learned principally from imitation of local competitors, although significantly, firms learning from local spillovers failed to advance beyond extra basic operating technological capabilities. Those firms who proactively pursued learning from foreign partners, on the other hand, advanced further, reaching basic innovative levels of technological capabilities. These findings are relevant for a wider range of industrial sectors in emerging economies.     

农村土地流转交易关系中流出方续约倾向研究——基于社会网络理论和渠道行为理论

针对我国农村土地流转交易关系不稳定的现状,文章以提高农村土地流出方的续约率为着眼点,运用社会网络理论和渠道行为理论研究农村土地流转交易关系的稳定性,分析农地流出方人际关系网络密度与网络中心性对农地流入方的渠道权力应用方式的影响关系,进而分析农地流入方的渠道权力应用方式对农地流出方续约倾向的影响关系,利用结构方程模型在实地调查的基础上对以上影响关系进行实证检验。认为流出方的人际网络密度对流入方的渠道权力应用方式影响显著,流出方的人际网络中心性对流入方的渠道权力应用方式影响不显著,流入方的渠道权力应用方式对流出方续约倾向影响显著,并据此结论提出建议:保护农地流出方的利益,降低流入方的农地投资风险,提高流转交易关系的稳定性。