Valuing transferred machine tool technology - Relating value to product attributes and preferences of acquirers

The value of technology and the appropriate form of transfer arrangement ar e important questions to be resolved when transferring technology between W estern manufacturing firms and partners in industrialising and developing c ountries. This article reports on surveys carried out in the machine tool i ndustries in the UK and China to establish the differences and similarities between owners and acquirers of technology regarding the relative importan ce of the factors they evaluate, and the assessments they make, when consid ering a technology transfer. It also outlines the development of a framewor k for technology valuation. The survey results indicate that the value of p roduct technology is related to superior technical performance, especially on reliability and functionality, and the prospects of premium prices and i ncreased sales of the technology transfer based machine tools. Access to ma rkets is the main objective of UK companies, while Chinese companies are co ncerned about improving their technological capability There are significan t risks especially related to performance in the market, and while owners a nd acquirers have benefited in the short term, the long term collaboration required for strategic benefits has been difficult to achieve because of th e different priorities of the owners and the acquirers.