The technology vicinity: a location based view on technology

The issue of technology transfer has been viewed from many different perspectives. In this case the focus is on the process of (production) technology transfer. One of the difficulties in studying international technology transfer is the definition of technology. The many technology definitions that exist are either too ‘loosely’ formulated or they require thorough expert knowledge. This results in difficulties with measuring technology and comparing different studies meaningfully. This study on technology transfer used technology as a sensitizing concept. Four case studies were performed and during these case studies a definition of technology was developed and refined, to obtain a meaningful representation of the technology at hand. The model enables the researchers on the transfer of technology to measure what is transferred. The research also showed that a technology can not be viewed in isolation but organizational factors and environmental factors influence the productivity of a technology. Therefore the functioning of technology should be viewed as dependent on its location