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 tra nsfer as well as on technology strategy and management. It argues that these literatures need to be linked because both treat problems inher ent to managing technology development that must succeed at the level of the firm, not the level of the nation state or government facilitie s. The discussion here focuses on issues that frequently appear in rec ent writings on international technology transfer: the relationship be tween international technology transfer and cultivation of indigenous capabilities within the technology recipients; organizational options and their effectiveness for international technology transfer; the inf luence of external factors on the outcomes of international technology transfer process for technology recipients; and policies of host-coun try governments concerning transfer of foreign technology, We examine these issues from the viewpoints of both international technology tran sfer and technology strategy and management. The objective is to ident ify perspectives from research on technology strategy and management t hat might help solve basic problems in international technology transf er.