Preparing for the formulation of effective international technology transfer arrangements

The term technology transfer implies the movement of technology from the technology owning entity (the transferor) to another, and if the transfer is successful, the proper understanding and effective use of the technology by the receiving entity (transferee). This paper deals with the elaboration of a procedure, that could be used by buyers or transferees of technology in the manufacturing sector of developing country firms, in the formulation of effective technology transfer arrangements. The procedure prescribes the undertaking of three stages: the motivation scrutiny stage; the technology component specification stage; and the transfer mechanism selection stage. It is argued that, once a particular technology and potential transferors for its supply have been identified, the adoption of the proposed approach could enable the transferee to generate useful information for use in the negotiation stage to increase bargaining power.