LINKING INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY-TRANSFER WITH STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT - A LITERATURE COMMENTARY

This article represents an attempt to link literature from diverse but fundamentally related areas: research on international technology transfer as well as on technology strategy and management. It argues that these literatures need to be linked because both treat problems inherent to managing technology development that must succeed at the level of the firm, not the level of the nation state or government facilities. The discussion here focuses on issues that frequently appear in recent writings on international technology transfer: the relationship between international technology transfer and cultivation of indigenous capabilities within the technology recipients; organizational options and their effectiveness for international technology transfer; the influence of external factors on the outcomes of international technology transfer process for technology recipients; and policies of host-country governments concerning transfer of foreign technology, We examine these issues from the viewpoints of both international technology transfer and technology strategy and management. The objective is to identify perspectives from research on technology strategy and management that might help solve basic problems in international technology transfer.