The creation of organizational capabilities through international transfers of technology

This research departs from traditional studies of technology transfer which underestimate the innovation in the transfer process by viewing the transfer phenomenon as one involving learning and innovation and culminating in the development of capabilities in the recipient firm. Learning and innovation are practice-based and embedded in organizational process. Three specific factors are posited to facilitate learning: (1) the presence of inter-firm and intra-firm relationships based on mutual trust which help in promoting communication; (2) the adoption of organizational structures that promote coordination and ease problem-solving (such as a concurrent task design; and (3) the provision, for novice project members, of opportunities to learn through participation in authentic activity, the work of technology implementation. Case study methodology is used to examine in-depth, three instances of technology transfer using different transfer modes from firms in Japan, the U.S. and Europe to engineering firms in an emerging economy, India to suggest that transfer requires a match between organizational processes adopted and the desired outcome, the creation of technological capabilities. To ensure variation in organizational practices, cases using different transfer modes were selected (i.e. ranging from arms\u27 length transactions such as imports to joint ventures involving equity participation). Data from seven additional cases substantiates the perspective that it is the systematic structuring of organizational practices to enable learners to acquire skills in the context of work that determines the level of capabilities attained. Evidence suggests that transfers were motivated by a response to heightened competition in an increasingly open economy. Moreover, recipient firms\u27 progress towards technological mastery was largely marked by the development of new conceptual frameworks, improvements in performance and adaptive innovation. Such changes suggest that learning in these firms was characterized by a shift in identity from peripheral participant towards membership in the community of global manufacturing firms. Finally, these cases confirmed an interesting finding, that the transfer mode is not a decisive factor in the creation of technological capabilities