Learning Needs of Technology Transfer: Coping with Discontinuities and Disruptions

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Learning Needs of Technology Transfer: Coping with Discontinuities and Disruptions Mathew J. Manimala & K. Raju Thomas

Received: 13 July 2010 / Accepted: 17 April 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract Technology and its transfer has become the main vehicle of human and economic development in the world today. This is especially true of discontinuous and disruptive technologies because of their special role in taking the economic activities and quality of life to new levels. The transferee’s benefits from Technology Transfer are quite obvious, as it is perceived as a means for them to develop their economies as well as quality of life. While this aspect of technology transfer is frequently being discussed in the literature (often under the “donor–recipient” paradigm), the transferor is often viewed as the giver of benefits. Such a perspective would be detrimental to the effective implementation of technology transfer. In other words, there has to be a focus on the transferor’s benefits as well (such as the expansion of market, generation of additional income, innovations in a different context, growth of the company, etc.) and therefore on their need for learning. Based on a review of literature on the subject, it was seen that both the transferor as well as the transferee need to learn new skills in order to implement international technology transfer (ITT) effectively. Such learning needs would arise primarily from four factors, namely: (a) the objectives, (b) the contents, (c) the process, and (d) the channels involved in the ITT, and are viewed from the different contexts of the transferor and the transferee. The larger objective (super-ordinate goal) of any ITT is to enable the transferees to create and rule a new world of theirs and the transferors to gain access to a new world. This can be accomplished only if the discontinuities and disruptions that lead to ITT and later emerge from it are managed using a learning orientation founded on a paradigm of equal partnership. Keywords Technology transfer . Learning needs . Learning as coping behavior . Transferor’s perspectives . Transferee’s perspectives

M. J. Manimala (*) : K. R. Thomas Indian Institute of Management, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560076, India e-mail: [email protected]

J Knowl Econ

Introduction Technology and its transfer has become the main vehicle of human and economic development in the world today. A particular technology transfer exercise can be considered to have given the desired result only if it is absorbed by and assimilated in the host company/country and is able to provide a springboard for the transferee to move into the next stage of development. Business success and expansion especially in an increasingly globalizing world is also more and more dependent on technology transfer, as it would be beneficial not only to the transferee but also to the transferor. It is a fact that most of the technology transfers are from the developed countries to the developing countries, and hence, the latter are often t