Technology strategies of large enterprises in Indian industry: Some explorations

A firm's technology strategy is influenced by the ''technology regime'' in which it operates. The regime is broadly defined by a combination of variables capturing industrial structure, nature of technical knowledge and the policy environment. Together, these variables determine the opportunity and appropriability conditions faced by a firm in a well-defined industry. Given these broad relationships, a heuristic framework is developed to analyze firms' technology strategies across industry groups. Four firm-level strategies are identified: (a) undertake research and development; (b) purchase disembodied foreign technology; (c) combine (a) and (b); and (d) remain technologically inactive, i.e., do neither (a) nor (b). The framework is translated into a multinomial logit model to explore empirically the determinants of technology choices made by Indian firms in two different industries: non-electrical machinery and chemicals. The impact of the following determinants is explored: firm size, capital and material imports, foreign equity participation, and foreign/domestic technology spillovers. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.