Partnering and knowledge transfer in the UK motor industry

This paper highlights the findings front a recent study of technology partnering arrangements in the U.K. automotive industry. Technology partnering is defined as a relationship between a supplier and customer that encourages the development of technology to meet the customer's requirements. The study examined 27 component suppliers to identify ways in which knowledge of process, product and materials technologies may be successfully exchanged in a vertical collaborative relationship. In particular, it explored managerial attitudes within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) reward a range of technology partnering arrangements with larger firms. A conceptual framework was developed which helped to reveal the nature and role of technological collaboration as well as contributing some of the qualitative characteristics which determine the level and intensity of knowledge exchange in a partnership. The fieldwork showed that firms often underestimate the amount of management effort required to make it work. The ultimate aims and anticipated benefits are seldom achieved principally because of the firms' lack of appreciation of the difficulties of working together. While technology partnerships can bring significant benefits to the active participants, they are not a panacea. There are islands of technology partnering success that have varying life cycles. The lifetime of each island appears to depend on the nature and complexity of the product or project. The speed at which that island evolves depends, in part, upon the partners' ability to "unlearn" obsolete and misleading knowledge, and assimilate new know how through collaboration. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.