Article

Technology Acquisition and Innovation in the Developing World: Wind Turbine Development in China and India

December 2007
Studies in Comparative International Development 42(3):208-232

December 2007
42(3):208-232

Authors:

Although China and India rely on coal to fuel most of their electricity generation, both countries are also home to burgeoning wind power industries. India currently leads the developing world in manufacturing utility-scale wind turbines, and China is close behind. This study examines the technology development strategies that have been pursued by the companies Suzlon and Goldwind, India and China’s leading wind turbine manufacturers. While the institutional and other barriers present in large, developing countries such as China and India certainly challenge any simplistic notions of energy leapfrogging, an examination of wind turbine development in these countries has shown that substantial technical advances are possible in a relatively short time. While both Suzlon and Goldwind pursued similar licensing arrangements to acquire basic technical knowledge, Goldwind’s technology development model lacks Suzlon’s network of strategically positioned global subsidiaries that contribute to its base of industry knowledge and technical capacity. This examination of how two leading developing-country firms have acquired and assimilated advanced technologies provides crucial insights into facilitating international technology transfers, which will be an important component of any technological leapfrogging strategy to achieve lower greenhouse gas emissions in the developing world.

Regional drivers of green inventions in OECD countries

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2021

One of the main current concerns of countries worldwide has been to develop green inventions and thus promote sustainable growth. However, the literature is yet to thoroughly discuss the drivers influencing the production of green inventions at a regional level. This paper assesses key constraints on the production of green inventions regionally, such as green and fossil fuel path dependence-related drivers, including R&D intensity, knowledge spillovers, degree of industrialization, and GDP per capita. The analysis comprises a panel of 187 regions from 21 OECD countries from 1990 to 2016 and uses System GMM. The econometric estimations reveal that path-dependence drivers influence green and fossil fuel patents. Evidence also shows that a positive relationship between the production of green inventions and R&D intensity, levels of GDP per capita, degree of economic development, and knowledge spillovers.

The Market Challenge of Wind Turbine Industry-renewable Energy in PR China and Germany

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2021
TECHNOL FORECAST SOC

This paper presents the role of global Industry 4.0 technology management in the growth of the wind turbine industry. The article begins with a brief overview of the Industry 4.0 wind turbine industry development, focusing on factors shaping this development. The legal policies are identified as one of the significant factors, especially in PR China and Germany. A detailed secondary data analysis of the country-specific systems is presented, followed by the analysis of patents and companies in both countries to understand better how the development, management and transfer of technology affected the different factors and the global patterns. An effective approach of acquiring technology for local enterprises as well as market development entry mode for the foreign technology holding companies are both identified. Accessing technology through licensing, entering joint ventures, or acquiring knowledge-intensive companies can be identified as common and often successful industry approaches. To develop, obtain, or maintain competitive advantages in the wind turbine industry, we suggest that the governments issue relevant legislation and regulations to support the upgrading of the industry, and the enterprises can access and manage the technology through the approaches mentioned above.

Catch-up dynamics in early industry lifecycle stages—a typology and comparative case studies in four clean-tech industries

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2020

The literature on catch-up cycles has not yet systematically conceptualized how catch-up dynamics differ between the various industries that are emerging in the green techno-economic paradigm. We address this gap by connecting catch-up cycle theory with an industry typology from global innov- ation systems (GISs) literature, which distinguishes four generic industry types with footloose, spatial- ly sticky, market-, and production-anchored innovation system characteristics. Catch-up patterns in early industry lifecycle stages are expected to systematically differ between these four industry types. This assumption is explored based on a comparative case study of the solar photovoltaics, wind power, solar water heaters, and membrane bioreactors industries, each of which exemplifies one of the four generic GIS configurations. We find that the speed and disruptiveness of early leadership changes differ significantly between the four industries, and that the effectiveness of capability upgrading strategies and catching-up policies are contingent on the innovation and valuation charac- teristics of each industry’s underlying GIS type.

Harnessing innovation policy for industrial decarbonization: Capabilities and manufacturing in the wind and solar power sectors of China and India

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2020

Daisuke Hayashi

This study examines how technological characteristics influence the impacts of policy on innovation with respect to wind turbine and solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing industries in China and India. The analysis draws on patent applications and government policies in the aforementioned industries from 2000–2017. Wind power and solar PV patents in China have increased rapidly since the mid-2000s, whereas patent numbers in India have remained low. Between 2000–2017, wind turbine was a design-intensive and cost-competitive technology. Consequently, building innovation capabilities in the wind turbine industry required technology-push policies to support research and development and tacit knowledge transfer, and demand-pull policies to create a sizeable, predictable, and performance-oriented domestic market. Solar PV was considered to be a manufacturing-intensive and more expensive technology. Thus, the PV manufacturing industry benefited from technology-push policies that promoted export-oriented manufacturing. While the domestic market played a supplementary role, demand-pull policies that focused on guaranteed investment returns (feed-in tariffs) helped to improve the innovation performance in solar PV. China balanced the implementation of technology-push and demand-pull policies that met these technology-specific requirements. On the contrary, India’s inadequate technology-push policies led to a lag in innovation in wind power and solar PV. Thus, policymakers need to strike a balance between technology-push and demand-pull policies, particularly by integrating innovation policies into a policy mix, and focus on technological characteristics as they determine the nature of the technological learning required to develop innovation capabilities.

China’s role in the next phase of the energy transition: Contributions to global niche formation in the Concentrated Solar Power sector

Article

Mar 2020

The role that emerging economies, and China in particular, play in the global energy transition appears to be transforming. Transition literature to date characterizes the formation of cleantech sectors in emerging economies as being heavily dependent on foreign inputs of knowledge and other key resources. This article argues that in the, currently unfolding, next phase of the global energy transition, Chinese actors may play a more central role in global niche development for high-tech industries, including in constructing innovative and effective socio-technical configurations. This argument is illustrated with a case study of the Chinese Concentrated Solar Power industry, which is found to have developed largely independently of foreign resources. The case is used to highlight a number of specificities of the Chinese environment that set it apart from niche formation environments in OECD countries, and may allow China to open up technological trajectories unlikely to develop in those OECD countries.

Evidence of latecomers’ catch-up in CoPS industries: a systematic review

Article

Feb 2020

There has been a controversial issue in existing literature regarding whether latecomers can catch up in Complex Products and Systems (CoPS) industries. In an attempt to address this issue, we employ systematic review method and analysed 39 previous studies. We found substantial evidences of catch-up or leapfrogging in CoPS industries. The catch-up patterns in the CoPS industries were similar to those in the mass-produced goods sectors. There were 15 success or failure factors for catch-up across CoPS industries, and the top five most frequently appeared factors were government support, technology transfer, in-house R&D, industry ecosystem or cluster, and external alliances.

From fossil-dependent energy to a clean, non- polluting energy: Wind farms in Maluti-A-Phofung municipality, South Africa

Article

May 2022
Dev South Af

In South Africa, the consumption of coal for electricity is at the top of the charts for coal consumption in Africa. The continued usage of non-renewable energy sources accounts for ∼50% of the total greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere globally. This study, therefore, aims to identify suitable sites for wind farms within the Maluti-A-Phofung municipality. Data for this study was sourced from climate stations within the MAP and the extant literature for standards and regulations. The Weibull function and ArcGIS 10.6 were used to establish a suitable site for wind farms within the MAP. The results from the study suggested that wind speed and direction in MAP municipality experienced variations but with a steady-state over time. However, based on criteria from other factors the MAP municipality should opt for micro-generators, that is, individual wind turbines per household for clean energy supply.

Assessing learning in low carbon technologies: Toward a more comprehensive approach

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2021

With decades of experience developing and deploying low carbon technologies around the world, much has been learned. We assess six categories that represent the diversity of methodological approaches that have been used to study low carbon learning: (1) learning curves; (2) expert elicitations; (3) patent analysis; (4) engineering‐based decomposition; (5) policy intervention studies; and (6) case studies. Based on a review of low carbon learning studies in these six areas, we summarize what we know about low carbon learning, and what we have yet to fully understand, including the methodological strengths and limitations of key studies conducted to date. We find that a more comprehensive understanding of low carbon learning is necessary and timely given the massive scale and short time horizon of the low carbon transition, and that there are real benefits to employing a comprehensive approach using multiple methods. We find a need for better data sets, and for studies of a more diverse set of technologies, as well as of interactions among technologies. In addition, studies should be more explicit about local context, with a particular need for additional focus on emerging and developing countries. We identify key topics that warrant further research, including technology specific learning methods; spatial distinctions and the local and global linkages that influence learning; and an expanded study of the cultural, social, environmental, and political factors that influence learning. Finally, we recommend more nuance in the design of policies directed at accelerating low carbon learning. This article is categorized under: The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Future of Global Energy

Chapter

May 2021

Zaker Ahmad

The Common Concern of Humankind today is central to efforts to bring about enhanced international cooperation in fields including, but not limited to, climate change. This book explores the expression's potential as a future legal principle. It sets out the origins of Common Concern, its differences to other common interest legal principles, and expounds the potential normative structure and effects of the principle, applying an approach of carrots and sticks in realizing goals defined as a Common Concern. Individual chapters test the principle in different legal fields, including climate technology diffusion, marine plastic pollution, human rights enforcement, economic inequality, migration, and monetary and financial stability. They confirm that basic obligations under the principle of 'Common Concern of Humankind' comprise not only that of international cooperation and duties to negotiate, but also of unilateral duties to act to enhance the potential of public international law to produce appropriate public goods.

China’s pragmatic experimentalism towards sustainable transition: Wind power and Sino-Danish collaboration

Chapter

Jan 2020

This volume constitutes a collection of research that brings to the fore one of the most important global challenges facing the world today: the energy transition. Addressing this challenge and achieving the sustainable development goals calls for international collaboration, and as the chapters in this report illustrate, bringing together scholars from different disciplines, backgrounds and geographies offers a holistic perspective for a sustainable transition. Moreover, the report simultaneously addresses the development, context, implementation and dissemination of energy transition solutions.

Mapping wind resources and extreme wind: Technical and social aspects

Chapter

Jan 2020

Environmental Policy and Air Pollution in China: Governance and Strategy

Book

Full-text available

Nov 2020

Yuan Xu

The innovation system for diffusion of small wind in Kenya: Strong, weak or absent? A technological innovation system analysis

Article

Jun 2020

Faith Hamala Wandera

Kenya is currently seeking to promote rural electrification through a decentralized approach for deploying renewable energy. This article asks whether an innovation system is in place to support the diffusion of small wind which could complement rural electrification using solar photovoltaics. In order to do this, the technological innovation systems framework is drawn upon using a qualitative approach to assess the performance of the small wind turbine sector in Kenya, along the seven innovation system functions. The study is the first to apply this framework to the diffusion of small wind turbine technology. The findings indicate the existence of a nascent and very weak technological innovation system, despite the relatively long history of small wind turbines in Kenya. Weaknesses established in the functions of mobilization of financial resources, guidance of the search for appropriate models and solutions and creation of legitimacy of the technology are all inhibiting the progress of diffusing small wind turbine technology in Kenya. The functions of knowledge development, entrepreneurial activities, networks and market formation were established to be supporting diffusion, although not very strongly. The analysis and conclusions point to the need for enhanced policy attention to target setting, skills enhancement and overall innovation system building.

The politics of late late development in renewable energy sectors: Dependency and contradictory tensions in India’s National Solar Mission

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2020
WORLD DEV

Pritish Behuria

Renewable energy investments are expanding across the world at an astonishing rate. The United States and Europe obtained early advantages in renewable energy technologies. However, East Asian late industrializers have now extended substantial support to domestic renewable energy manufacturing firms alongside encouraging increased deployment of renewable energy projects. In the solar energy sector, Chinese companies now dominate global production of solar cells and panels. Other developing countries, in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, have lagged in their support to manufacturing segments of renewable energy sectors. Yet many countries still aim to promote domestic production of solar panels and cells though such priorities are often secondary to increasing deployment of solar power projects. This paper argues that India’s position as a late, late industrializer in the sector, combined with prevailing domestic political economy pressures, have made it extremely difficult to promote the manufacturing of solar panels and cells. The strategy of prioritising increasing installed capacity of solar energy while also attracting lower energy tariffs appears incompatible with the goal of increasing domestic manufacturing capacity. Initially established in 2010 and ramped up after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) has received widespread praise for increasing the country’s installed solar energy capacity and for attracting tariffs of Rs. 2.44 per unit (a reduction of 80% within the last six years). However, domestic manufacturing has received limited support, especially after the United States launched a complaint against the NSM’s domestic content requirements, requiring energy developers to procure domestically-produced panels on specific projects. In 2018, the Indian government chose to refocus its attention on supporting manufacturers. However, the government chose a strategy that prioritised retaining a low minimum tariff on projects while increasing protection against imported panels, thereby forcing developers to buy panels at a higher cost. Since then, bidding processes have slowed down, highlighting the incompatibility of these goals. India’s case shows that countries that fail to integrate a strategic focus on manufacturing in their renewable energy expansion strategies from the onset may remain dependent on foreign imports of renewable energy technologies in the long-term. Late late development without adequate attention to industrial policy in renewable energy sectors will inevitably cement a green division of labour, with most of the Global South locked in dependency on American, European and East Asian technologies.

Comparative analysis on R&D internationalization under economy-level technological disparities and ownership-specific technological differences

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2023
Eur J Innovat Manag

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether there are disparities in research and development (R&D) internationalization between latecomers from economy-level technological disparities and firms with ownership-specific technological capability differences in the wind turbine industry. Design/methodology/approach Employing econometric analysis based on patent indicators, the authors examine the patent data assigned by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to the technologically advanced economy and the technologically emerging economy. Findings This study finds that latecomers from technologically advanced economies behave with no difference from early leaders in terms of international co-invention (INCO) but do show differences in another indicator – native ownership of foreign inventors (NOFIs). Additionally, latecomers from economy-level technological disparity show significant differences both in both INCO and NOFI. These results indicate that the latecomers from technologically advanced economies not only possess the nature of latecomers which motivates them to seek knowledge from foreign economies but also benefit from their advanced home base, thereby prompting them to internationalize and access cost-effective R&D resources. Moreover, the results demonstrate that latecomers from technologically emerging economies are more prone to engage in R&D internationalization to augment their own home base compared with firms from advanced economy. Originality/value This study extends the literature on R&D internationalization by introducing novel perspectives. It distinguishes some apparent distinctions of the tendency of R&D internationalization between latecomers under economy-level technological disparity as well as firms from ownership-specific technological capabilities differences. Additionally, this study disaggregates R&D internationalization into twin key dimensions: INCO and NOFI. These findings allow for a comprehensive understanding of the differences in the firm's R&D internationalization under economy-level technological disparities and ownership-specific technological differences. These findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in navigating global innovation activities by highlighting the diverse economy-level technological advantages as well as ownership-specific advantages.

Green Windows of Opportunity in the Global South

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jan 2023

The green transformation has profound implications for the global economy and, hence, for the prospects for latecomer development. In this paper we review the insights derived from case studies of developing countries’ green technology experience. We conduct a systematic literature review covering seven key technologies. This allows us to examine whether the green economy offers new opportunities for latecomer development and their ability to seize these opportunities. To understand how developing countries’ capacities to exploit these opportunities differ across cases, we focus on sectoral systems and, particularly, on (a) preconditions allowing exploitation of these opportunities, and (b) strategic responses of public and private actors in this respect. We identify four different scenarios: (1) effective opportunity exploitation; (2) missed opportunities; (3) active approach; and (4) distant opportunities. We conclude by assessing the options for policy to support developing countries in their efforts to encourage green development strategies, focusing on both the provision and augmentation of opportunities and construction of the requisite sectoral production and innovation systems.

How Does Successful Catch-Up Occur in Complex Products and Systems from the Innovation Ecosystem Perspective? A Case of China’s High-Speed Railway

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2022

Successful catch-up is an important channel to achieve sustainable development for emerging economies; however, it is a great challenge to catch up in complex products and systems (CoPS). Studies show limited evidence on how successful catch-up occurred in CoPS for emerging economies. This study holds the view that CoPS catch-up means a narrower gap in the innovation ecosystem between latecomers and leaders. This study disentangles the CoPS innovation ecosystem and uses China’s high-speed railway (HSR) as a longitudinal case with abundant data to explore how successful catch-up in CoPS is achieved. The results show that the CoPS innovation ecosystem presents a dynamic evolution in the technology innovation subsystem, the value creation subsystem, and the habitat. Four types of forces from the innovation ecosystem mix together to drive CoPS catch-up. Finally, this study proposes a CoPS catch-up process model following the basic logic of start point, activities, and performance, and CoPS industrial standards are used to measure CoPS catch-up performance. The study on CoPS catch-up from an innovation ecosystem perspective provides new insights and useful implications for governments and entities in CoPS of emerging economies.

Estimating the multiple impacts of technical progress on Bangladesh’s manufacturing and industrial sector’s CO2 emissions: A quantile regression approach

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Technological progress has a positive footprint on the global economy, and this can curb carbon emissions. This study aims to estimates the technical progress and CO2 emissions from Bangladesh’s manufacturing and industrial sector covering the period 1980 to 2018. We carried a quantile regression model to analyze the impact of technological progress on CO2 emissions and to establish the association among the variables. The study’s empirical outcomes are: First, the model’s R-square reaches 0.9, which suggests that these models clarify the driving factor of carbon emissions more than 90%. Second, the manufacturing sectors’ technological progress has a positive impact while the industrial sectors’ technological progress has mix impact on CO2 emissions. Third, the estimated CO2 emissions growth is rising with lower environmental effects from 2019 to 2040. Fourth, the estimations and policies might help Bangladesh contribute to improving management capability, technical development, public awareness, energy-saving technologies, energy efficiency measures, and supporting green technology in both sectors. Further policies are given below, which will assist Bangladesh’s policymakers in acknowledging appropriately.

How Does Successful Catch-Up Occur In Complex Product and Systems from An Innovation Ecosystem Perspective? The Case of China's High-Speed Railway

Article

Jan 2022

Understanding the diffusion of small wind turbines in Kenya

Chapter

Full-text available

Nov 2021

Faith Hamala Wandera

Development of guidance for non-market approaches in the Paris Agreement: operationalizing Articles 6.8 and 6.9 of the Paris Agreement

Article

Full-text available

May 2021

While market-based forms of cooperation are enshrined in Articles 6.2–6.7, Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of non-market approaches (NMAs) in international cooperation on climate change mitigation and adaptation in a variety of fields. Article 6.9 establishes the NMA framework that promotes NMAs described in Article 6.8. The Parties to the Paris Agreement are currently negotiating a work program to further elaborate on this. If properly designed, fostering the accelerated diffusion of non-market based international cooperation on technology development and transfer, capacity-building and finance in both adaptation and mitigation can provide a relevant contribution to NDC implementation and ratcheting up of ambition. Having that goal in mind, this report provides recommendations on the operationalization of the NMA framework and the work program and the identification of concrete NMAs for consideration by the negotiating Parties. We provide concrete examples of NMAs in various fields Parties have identified as relevant under the framework, including forests, resilience, removals, energy efficiency and the cross cutting topics mentioned above. The NMA work program should be designed as a meaningful addition to ongoing work under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The focus must be on activities that are not duplicating ongoing efforts, not implementable through markets, transformative, and have so far been side-lined by international public climate finance. The NMAs’ relevance will ultimately depend on Parties’ active engagement in the identification of concrete NMAs and their submission to the NMA forum envisaged in the latest iterations of the Presidency draft texts from COP25. The NMA forum should operate in a flexible but results-oriented manner to allow for the consideration of emerging concepts and pilot activities. In the end, the role of finance will also be pivotal for the work program’s relevance. According to the current status of negotiations, the work program will not have own financial resources but the consideration of finance is essential to avoid that the NMA work program becomes a mere ‘talk shop’.

Technological Regimes, Patent Growth, and Catching-up in Green Technologies

Article

Jan 2021

This article explores how the components of the technological regime affect catching-up and leadership change in green technologies in countries that are leaders and successful latecomers. We look at the extent to which technological opportunity, cumulativeness, originality and complexity of the knowledge base, and the maturity of technology contribute to the growth of patenting in green technologies. We test the relationships using USPTO patent data in green technologies over a 40-year time span (1975–2015), distinguishing two periods (1975–1999 and 2000–2015) and controlling for country-specific variables. Our results show that opportunity, complexity, originality, and maturity of the technology are positively associated with countries’ growth of patenting in green technologies, while cumulativeness has a negative effect, but only in the second period (2000–2015). The stock of knowledge has a positive effect in the first period and a negative effect in the second one. Furthermore, we find confirmation that the process of growth in green patenting has been remarkable in successful latecomer countries (i.e., South Korea, Taiwan, and China).

Bhutias of Sikkim

Article

Mar 2021

Veena Bhasin

Bhutias of Sikkim, animal husbandry alone was not sufficient to sustain the population, so they indulged in marginal trading activities with the Tibetan across the borders. The barter of timber wood, dye stuffs and dairy products of that region for Tibetan salt and wool formed the basis of this trade. Bhutias of Sikkim (Lachung and Lachen) pursued it as an occupation intimately interwoven with pastoral activities. Thus, the trade was as long as unhampered by political restrictions, it enabled them to remain economically independent. However with the closing of the bordering 1962, social life changed of these people. Political events beyond their have led to the transformation of their traditional economic system, forcing them to reorient it. They lost large herds of yaks and sheep, when they were on the seasonal migration under the ancient trans-border pasture usage agreements. They could no longer use pasture land in Tibet, causing heavy losses of their herds due to lack of alternative pasture area. Bhutias started to shift from a pastoral and trading economy to a more settled agricultural and small scale horticulture and wage earning economy. The seasonal migration emerges as an activity organized by family and community structure. The Bhutias of Sikkim have adopted culturally to diverse natural landscapes and have established settlement patterns and production activities tailored to the limitation imposed by the region.

Building an internationally competitive concentrating solar power industry in China: lessons from wind power and photovoltaics

Article

May 2021

This article draws lessons from experiences of developing the photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind power sectors in China for the development of Chinese Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) into an internationally competitive industry. We analyze the sectoral development with a framework that expands on the concept of lead markets, identifying factors that determine whether domestic industrial development paths may or may not generate export success. We find that the Chinese CSP sector has good potential for becoming internationally competitive because of a strong Chinese knowledge base, a clear eye for product quality, standard-setting, and a focus on the high-efficiency and large-storage technological routes most likely to see growing demand in future international markets. Chinese solar towers are already cheaper than international competitors and so far, appear reliable. However, continued and stable deployment support for CSP, designed to reward dispatchable solar power generation, enabling continued domestic learning-by-doing and -interacting is likely required to realize this export potential. To date, Chinese CSP policy has done many things right and, if the domestic market is maintained through renewed support, has put the Chinese industry well on the path to international competitiveness.

Learning from global suppliers: the diffusion of small wind in low- and middle-income countries

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2021

An increasing number of low and middle-income countries seek to boost electrification with renewable energy. Yet, most renewable energy equipment and services are imported from global technologies suppliers located in high-income countries. This article aims to learn from global suppliers of small wind turbines: What can we learn about capabilities, opportunities and barriers for diffusion of small wind? What insights can we derive about organisational learning and policy learning to enhance diffusion? Our survey of global producers shows that at firm-level, capabilities such as preparation of feasibility reports and selection of project sites are major weakness in developing countries. Limited knowledge of technologies and skilled manpower are also key constraints. While there are opportunities for learning from global suppliers during project planning and installation, low absorptive capacity constrains the further diffusion of knowledge locally.

Technological regimes, patent growth, and catching-up in green technologies

Article

May 2021

Green growth and innovation in the Global South: a systematic literature review

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2021

Kyle S Herman

There has been much interest in green growth and innovation in recent years. The main idea is that domestic green growth policies can provide ‘win-wins’ to both the environment and the economy. But we still know very little about the impact of such policies, especially in developing countries—the ‘Global South.’ The literature remains underdeveloped. This is disappointing since the Global South could leverage green growth policies to enhance competitiveness, ‘leapfrog’ directly to cleaner technologies, and ‘catch-up’ economically and environmentally through innovation in environmental technologies. The lack of research is also problematic because greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries are growing rapidly. Without green growth and innovation it will be exceedingly difficult to meet the urgent needs of climate change. Against this backdrop, this paper conducts machine-aided citation, bibliometric, and keyword analyses on green growth research with a particular focus on developing countries, innovation, and environmental technologies.

Catching up through green windows of opportunity in an era of technological transformation: Empirical evidence from the Chinese wind energy sector

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2021

Recent transformations in the global wind energy industry have considerable implications for firms to catch up as the sectoral frontier advances from on- and offshore wind turbines towards digital/hybrid systems. These technological shifts potentially precipitate new green windows of opportunity. This article finds that latecomer firms show different capabilities in responding to technological transformation at the global level, which explains variations in catch-up trajectories under the same framework conditions.

The Governance of Global Innovation Systems: Putting Knowledge in Context

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2020

Technological innovation increasingly depends on multiscalar actor networks and institutions. However, the developers of many conceptual frameworks explaining innovation success have paid only limited attention to this new reality, due to their focus on regions and countries as agents that shape innovation governance and as containers that provide institutional conditions for innovation success. In particular, innovation systems literature has been criticized in this respect. In the present chapter, we refer to the recently formulated Global Innovation Systems approach, which enables researchers to capture the emergence of system resources across spatial scales. With this framework, we emphasize that beyond the focus on knowledge generation processes, a better understanding of valuation processes is necessary to guide governance structures for generating new technologies and products. This is particularly true for sectors that are oriented towards confronting grand challenges, such as cleantech industries.

Innovation and Technology Transfer Framework for a Global Climate Deal An E3G report with contributions from Chatham House

Technical Report

Full-text available

Nov 2008

The short-term costs of local content requirements in the Indian solar auctions

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2020
Nat. Energy.

Developing and emerging economies are implementing local content requirements to spur domestic manufacturing, though their costs and benefits are not well understood and difficult to quantify. Here, we provide an empirical assessment of the short-term costs of local content requirements using a credible counterfactual. We analyse data on government-run solar photovoltaic auctions held in India between 2014 and 2017 and exploit the fact that not all of the auctioned contracts entailed local content requirements. We find that local content requirement policies resulted in a ~6% per kWh increase in the cost of solar photovoltaic power generated from those projects when compared to similar projects not subject to the same local content requirement policy. During this three-year time period, Indian solar panels remained around 14% more expensive than international panels. We found some evidence of short-term increases in domestic manufacturing capacity, yet during this short period Indian firms did not increase market share or break into export markets.

Environmental economics in Algeria: empirical investigation into the relationship between technological policy, regulation intensity, market forces, and industrial pollution of Algerian firms

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2020
ENVIRON SCI POLLUT R

Clean technologies are generally developed in industrialized countries and transferred to developing countries where they are adapted to local market conditions. This transfer is regularized by the technological and environmental policies of the receiving countries. The aim of the present work is to show that clean technologies are important in dealing with environmental problems in Algeria and that the regulation plays a key role in the technological eco-development process. To do so, we adopt an empirical approach that is based on data collection from industrial firms in the West of Algeria which operate in different sectors of activities. The present study used a modeling approach that relied on a structural equation model and multiple regression analysis. The developed model is based on the results of the qualitative survey that preceded the econometric study. The results show that the variance of industrial pollution in Algeria is explained by regulation intensity, technological policy, and market forces. In addition, the collected data show that technologies that are needed for green growth in Algeria are mastered in 53% of the cases where technology transfer and adaptive Research and Development (R&D) play an important role. In 75% of cases, regulatory incentives related to the integration of technological change and eco-innovations are one of the key drivers of reducing environmental problems.

Fusing East and West Leads a Way to Global Competitiveness in Emerging Economy: Lessons from China’s Leap in Wind Energy Development

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2014

China has demonstrated world leading wind energy development in the last five years which can be attributed to the fusion between its design and manufacturing strength in indigenous wind turbine industry and newly emerging wind energy industry in absorption of global best practices. An empirical analysis of China’s wind energy development trajectory over the last decade focusing on the technology sourcing from foreign firms in support of domestic players for accelerating functionality development through enhanced knowledge identification, absorption, assimilation and acclimatization was attempted. Important lessons learned include (i) importance of supply chain in the technology diffusion, (ii) effective technology acquisition and assimilation through early domestic firm engagement, (iii) effect of relevant domestic firms involvement in technology transfer partnership to induce inter-industry spillovers, and (iv) a framework for an emerging nation to develop new functionalities. Similarity and disparity with similar success of fusion in solar industry (JTMGE 3, 2) were also identified.

The United States–China Race for Green Transformation: Institutions, Incentives, and Green Industrial Policies

Article

Nov 2023
J Chin Polit Sci

Geoffrey Chun-fung Chen

This article provides political analysis of the extent to which new state strategies of involvement in climate technologies have shaped the green markets in both China and the United States. Using rational choice institutionalism and comparative case studies, this article analyzes state involvement in novel governance techniques and green industrial policy competition related to climate technologies in the United States and China. The guiding research question asks to what extent green industrial policy and its related incentives are useful for understanding the transition to green energy in the two countries. This study further explores the ways in which both countries enhance the competitiveness of national industries for science and technology in alternative energy. The rivalry between China and the US has accelerated, to some extent, the process of strengthening regulatory intervention in knowledge creation, public financing for climate technologies, and other domestic economic interests, while the emergence of green industrial policy has become part of the win‒win rhetoric and practices to facilitate a green economy. This research contributes to the comparative understanding of the proliferation of mission-oriented innovation initiatives, as well as the challenges in reorganizing them with new green industrial policy concepts.

Multinational Enterprises and Green Technology Transfers

Chapter

Aug 2023

ON STIMULATION OF INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

Article

Jan 2023

The introduction of a modernized, flexible economic strategy and the consistent application of that strategy are crucial to resolving the post-war Artsakh economy's current crisis. An integral component of state policy, economic policy has a direct impact on social, public, and political spheres in addition to the economy. When the challenges facing the Republic of Artsakh are examined, it becomes clear that hybrid approaches must be used to address the problems at hand. The Republic of Artsakh's economy has continued to grow in an unusual environment, which serves as the foundation for the use of hybrid approaches. The development of global political, military, and economic barriers that prevent the application of strategy and sustainable economic growth are all related to AR. The opportunity to respond to both the practical resolution of unforeseen issues and the implementation of mid-term and long-term goals through development road maps is provided by the continual development strategy.

Pay to protect: Examining the factors of the use of market‐based instruments for local water sustainability

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Given the myriad of policy instruments aimed at enhancing water quantity conservation available to municipalities, what drives them to opt for a market‐based instrument (MBI)? MBIs can be effective and efficient policy instruments to enhance water quantity conservation, but there is little known about why municipalities utilize them. This study hypothesizes that three contextual elements influence a municipality's use of an MBI: the natural, political, and structural environment. The results from two logistic regression models suggest that in a municipality suffering a higher drought level, both a conservative political environment and operating under a council‐manager form of government (with the effect more pronounced under a non‐council‐manager form) will increase the likelihood that it will use an MBI to address water conservation.

International Technology Diffusion in a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement: September 2012

Chapter

Sep 2016

Thomas L. Brewer

The widely accepted need to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels and move instead to low-carbon, renewable alternatives faces a host of challenges. Whilst the greatest challenges remain in engineering, political and public policy issues continue to play a very important role. This volume, which consists of contributions from leading figures in the field, presents the case for a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement (SETA). It shows that by addressing barriers to trade in goods and services relevant for the supply of clean energy, such an agreement would foster the crucial scaling-up of clean energy supply and promote a shift away from fossil fuels. In doing so it illustrates how the agreement would help to address a number of overarching sustainable development priorities, including the urgent threat of climate change, enhanced energy access and improved energy security. The book will appeal to academics and policymakers working on the interface of trade and energy policy.

Internationalisation, reverse learning and capabilities upgrading: The case of Huawei and ZTE*

Chapter

Feb 2015

Over the past three decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth and a fascinating transformation of its industry. However, much of this success is the result of industrial imitation and China's continuing success now relies heavily on its ability to strengthen its indigenous innovation capability. In this book, Xiaolan Fu investigates how China can develop a strategy of compressed development to emerge as a leading innovative nation. The book draws on quantitative and qualitative research that includes cross-country, cross-province and cross-firm analysis. Large multi-level panel datasets, unique survey databases, and in-depth industry case studies are explored. Different theoretical approaches are also used to examine the motivations, obstacles and consequences of China's innovation with a wider discussion around what other countries can learn from China's experience. This book will appeal to scholars and policy-makers working in fields such as innovation policy, technology management, development and international economics and China studies.

Transferring Technologies: The Polycentric Governance of Clean Energy Technology

Chapter

May 2018

Climate change governance is in a state of enormous flux. New and more dynamic forms of governing are appearing around the international climate regime centred on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They appear to be emerging spontaneously from the bottom up, producing a more dispersed pattern of governing, which Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom famously described as 'polycentric'. This book brings together contributions from some of the world's foremost experts to provide the first systematic test of the ability of polycentric thinking to explain and enhance societal attempts to govern climate change. It is ideal for researchers in public policy, international relations, environmental science, environmental management, politics, law and public administration. It will also be useful on advanced courses in climate policy and governance, and for practitioners seeking incisive summaries of developments in particular sub-areas and sectors. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Securitizing New Energy Amidst the Global Pandemic: The Chinese State and the Politics of Climate Change

Chapter

Oct 2021

Geoffrey Chun-fung Chen

This chapter argues that the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the process fulfilling the promise of the neoliberal idea to mitigate the effects of climate change. The neoconservative advocates that created the fictional myths of a minimalist government seem to have demonstrated their insufficient capacity to alleviate the spread of public crises. Nevertheless, the uncertainty of the energy transition caused by turbulent oil prices have compelled the national policy elites to adjust the development strategy of alternative energy with the aim of adapting to climate change. This chapter will focus on the development of China’s new energy and analyse its possible implications of human security amidst the global epidemic, investigating the diversified governance patterns in this emerging field through the central and local states’ altered industrial policies. In this chapter, the main body of the analysis includes the institutional continuity and changes and governance structures of three strategic emerging sectors, being non-hydro renew energy, nuclear energy, and electric vehicles. The study unfolds Chinese governments’ and enterprises’ actions and relations in the trajectory of sectoral development. The study illustrates a transitional bureaucratic restructuring trend towards the central government. However, this trend has formed a potentially new institution that is aimed for regulating the energy markets while striving for maintain a sustained connection between national security and human security in the Chinese context.

Collaborative Advantage: Forging Green Industries in the New Global EconomyForging Green Industries in the New Global Economy

Book

Full-text available

Oct 2021

Jonas Nahm

In an era of rapid international economic integration, how do countries interact, innovate, and compete in industries, like energy, that are fundamental to national interests? Collaborative Advantage: Forging Green Industries in the New Global Economy examines the development of wind and solar industries, two sectors of historic importance that have long been the target of ambitious public policy. As wind and solar grew from cottage industries into $300 billion global sectors, China, Germany, and the United States each developed distinct constellations of firms with starkly different technical capabilities. The book shows that globalization itself has reinforced such distinct national patterns of industrial specialization. Economically, globalization has created opportunities for firms to specialize through collaboration with others. Politically, new possibilities for specialization have allowed firms to repurpose existing domestic institutions for application in new industries. Against the backdrop of policy efforts that have generally failed to grasp the cross-national nature of innovation, the book offers a novel explanation for both the causes of changes in the global organization of innovation and their impact on domestic politics. As interdependence in global supply chains has again come under fire in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Collaborative Advantage challenges the notion that globalization is primarily about competition, highlighting instead the central role of collaboration in the global economy, particularly in clean energy industries critical to solving the climate crisis.

Evolution of Iran’s gas turbine sectoral innovation system as a complex product system (CoPS)

Article

Jul 2021

Many scholars have studied various sectoral innovation systems that are categorized as mass-produced goods, whereas there are only a few previous studies that have investigated complex product systems (CoPS). CoPS are defined as high-cost, engineering, and software-intensive goods, systems, networks, infrastructure, engineering constructs, and services. However, many differences between these two categories of industries have been reported by a large number of scholars. To address this shortcoming, this paper intends to study the evolution of Iran’s gas turbine sectoral innovation system as a CoPS industry. To this end, a qualitative approach and a case study research design were employed. To do this, we conducted 17 in-depth interviews, participated in different conferences and conventions, as well as studied various documents as secondary data. Our findings suggest that: firstly, technological capabilities in Iranian gas turbine producers have evolved from assembling to manufacturing, and re-designing existing gas turbines; Secondly, diverse and dynamic governmental policies associated with the gas turbine industry over the last two decades have played a key role in encouraging domestic firms to acquire technological capabilities; and thirdly, the large and growing domestic market not only justified investing in R&D and building infrastructure by the government but also contributed to improved interaction and collaboration between domestic and overseas’ companies. As the main policy implication, our paper suggests that the transition from product-using to product-manufacturing in CoPS industries is not an automatic process. It is important to design the corresponding policies and institutional arrangements following the evolving technological capabilities and demand conditions. Finally, this paper has contributed to sectoral innovation systems and CoPS literature by shedding light on the evolution of the gas turbine industry as CoPS in the context of Iran as a developing country with some restrictions in global technology collaborations.

Das, Kasturi, ‘India’s Tryst with TRIPS: Revisiting the Patent Conundrum’, in Raychaudhuri, A., et al (eds), World Trade and India: Multilateralism, Progress and Policy Response (EEPC-EX-IM Bank Book on 25 Years of the WTO and India’s Engagements), Sage Publishing, 2020.

Chapter

Nov 2020

Kasturi Das

The chapter critically analyzes some of the key issues pertaining to India's 25 years' tryst with the TRIPS Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the field of patents.

Association for Information Systems Association for Information Systems AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) Absorptive Capacity and its Potential Role in Supporting Absorptive Capacity and its Potential Role in Supporting Organisational knowledge Creation: A Qualitative Approach Organisational knowledge Creation: A Qualitative Approach Recommended Citation Recommended Citation

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Oct 2019

Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) is the ability of a firm to integrate, transform, and apply valuable knowledge required for business success. ACAP is proposed to play a significant role in enriching the process of knowledge creation embraced inside contemporary organizational Information Systems (IS) environments. Many misperceptions surround how ACAP can be measured and understood as an organizational construct. The aim of this research is to decrease such misperception by providing qualitative measures for ACAP dimensions extracted using data from (22) semi-structured interviews conducted with senior managers working in two telecommunication companies, and analysed following Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) coding techniques. Drawing on our analysis, we propose a relational model that includes measures that can be commonly used in the literature, and treated as guides to IS researchers and senior managers in exploring the rich facets of ACAP. The extracted measures are proposed to offer foundations for shaping where and how further potential organizational assets can be leveraged.

Critical Success Factors of Technology Transfer: An Investigation into the Health Sector of Bangladesh Using ISM-DEMATEL Approach

Conference Paper

Aug 2021

The study aims to observe the critical success factors (CSFs) of the technology transfer (TT) process within a developing country context. Based on a literature review, a list of 15 CSFs is created. Then, these CSFs are examined empirically in the context of technologies transferred into the health sector in Bangladesh. The study uses data collected from 35 experts and adopts two techniques, namely interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and DEcision MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), in order to understand the causal relationships among CSFs that have influenced TT. The findings show that among the studied factors, 'Management Support', 'Strategy and Goal' and 'Government Regulation' has the most significant impact on the success of TT implementation in the Bangladesh health sector. The paper is one of the rare studies in technology management literature by brings together ISM and DEMATEL techniques as well as offering an empirical study carried out in the health sector of a developing country context. The findings will enable TT practitioners to select the most appropriate CSFs for successful TT in context to developing countries. The paper ends with a summary and put forward suggestions for future studies.

Understanding IT Acquisitions Preparedness

Chapter

Jan 2013

It is generally experienced that every organization develops its own approach for IT acquisitions with varying degrees of emphasis on organizational priorities, systems, and technologies. Organizations involved in the IT acquisitions process pursue various perspectives depending on their strategy and implementation plans leading to varying degrees in IT preparedness. IT preparedness measurements may involve various stakeholders including employees and vendors. It is important to note that stakeholder preparedness is likely to vary in its intensity, but will eventually contribute to the overall organizational IT acquisition preparedness. In this chapter, these perspectives are discussed with a focus on IT as a form of technology acquisition, organizational processes, and quality improvement.

Structural conflict under the new green dilemma: Inequalities in development of renewable energy for emerging economies

Article

Nov 2020

Climate Change related concerns affect multiple international and national policy forefronts. Globally, conflicts over renewables industry between the developed and emerging economies have affected the provision of green goods-thus slowing the overall welfare of global environmental governance. This article argues that the above phenomenon is a new form of green dilemma which arises from the long-lasting issue of balancing environmental protection and economic gains. It further tracks the historical evolutionary change of green dilemma, from version 1.0 to 2.0 to the current avatar of Green Dilemma 3.0. By developing the Green Dilemma Framework, the article aims to uncover the logic underlying the industrial policies and trade conflicts between the developed and emerging economies in their energy transitions. Utilizing the US vs China and US vs India conflicts in the solar PV industries as the two group of cases, the key feature of Green Dilemma 3.0 is illustrated as the conflict over status and control of the global division of labor in the new energy industry. This article offers a novel perspective on global inequality by deconstructing the unequal global production system that can act to restrict the optimization of energy use and production in tackling climate change and thus successively hindering global environmental governance in its realization of optimal results. Underneath global climate change governance, there is an unequal global production network and political system, and both these follow a core, semi-periphery, and periphery distribution of power structure. We argue that the inequality of global production system suppresses the effects of subsidy competition and erodes the economic foundation of global climate governance.

The greening of South-South trade: Levels, growth, and specialization of trade in clean energy technologies between countries in the global South

Article

Jun 2020
RENEW ENERG

Jorrit Gosens

Countries in the global South, or developing and emerging economies, are experiencing rapid economic growth, and increased economic integration with other countries in the global South, including trade. Some analysts have raised concerns that such South-South trade might encourage the use of outdated conventional energy technologies, and lock developing countries into high carbon growth paths. Here, trade data from the UN Comtrade database is analyzed with a gravity model of trade. Results show that levels of clean energy technologies in South-south trade were relatively low up until the first half of the 2010's, but that these are entirely comparable to North-North or other trade flows in recent years. The analysis thus finds no evidence to support concerns that South-South trade might encourage high carbon development. South-South trade contains particularly high levels of solar PV, hydropower, and electric two-wheeler technologies, whilst exporters in the global North are more competitive in markets for wind power equipment and electric vehicles. Trade in electric vehicles is the fastest growing class of clean energy technologies, and the dominance of Northern countries in their exports may mean that South-South trade could, in the foreseeable future, once again lag behind in levels of clean energy technologies.

Inter-sector network and clean energy innovation: Evidence from the wind power sector

Article

Mar 2020
J CLEAN PROD

Clean energy technology innovation is never an isolated process within the energy sector. The influence of related industrial sectors on clean energy innovation has, however, not been extensively studied. In this paper, we examine how the structure of existing related industrial sectors, which we name as the inter-sector network, affects clean energy technology innovation. We present a novel approach to measuring various characteristics of the inter-sector network. Using panel data of 61 countries from 1997 to 2012, we test the impacts of three key structural attributes of the inter-sector network—size, strength, and proximity—on innovation performance in the wind power sector. We have three major findings: 1) A country with more industries related to the wind industry is likely to have higher knowledge generation and market deployment in the wind power sector; 2) A country with more globally competitive industries related to wind power is likely to have higher market deployment of wind technologies, but it does not significantly affect knowledge generation; 3) A inter-sector network that is more closely related to the wind industry facilitates knowledge generation but may hinder wind technology deployment. These findings highlight the double-sided impacts of the inter-sector network on clean energy innovation. Our findings also suggest the need for industrial policies to foster interactions between clean energy sectors and their related manufacturing sectors.

International business in the technology transfer system

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

The Performance of Feed-in Tariffs to Promote Renewable Electricity in European Countries

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2002

Jos Sijm

Case Study Methods in International Political Economy

Article

Full-text available

May 2001

John S. Odell

IPE scholars frequently use qualitative methods to contribute to theory-building, but we could get greater value from them. Single case studies are actually a family of research designs: the disciplined interpretive case study, the hypothesis-generating case study, the least-likely, most-likely, and deviant case studies. The method of difference employs comparison and attempts to eliminate rival interpretation by choosing two or more cases that match in important respects. These methods enjoy several inherent advantages relative to statistical methods, and they suffer from several disadvantages. Neither family of methods is sufficient. The two complement one another and ultimately must be combined.

Foreign Direct Investment as a Catalyst for Industrial Development

Article

Full-text available

Oct 1997
EUR ECON REV

How does an FDI project affect local firms in the same industry? Competition in the product and factor markets tends to reduce profits of local firms, but linkage effects to supplier industries may reduce input costs and raise profits. This paper develops an analytical framework to assess these effects. Circumstances in which FDI is complementary to local industry are established, and it is shown how FDI may lead to the establishment of local industrial sectors. These sectors may grow to the point where local production overtakes and forces out FDI plants. Our results are consistent with the experience of a number of industrial sectors in the NICs.

The Globalisation of Technology: A New Taxonomy.

Article

Full-text available

Feb 1995
CAMB J ECON

Much has been written on the increasingly international generation, transmission, and diffusion of technologies, with the phenomenon having been given its own term--techno-globalism--and interpreted by some as displacing national systems of innovation and making redundant and futile any attempt by national governments to foster technological development domestically. This paper reconsiders the evidence by developing a new taxonomy and investigating separately the global exploitation of technology, global technological collaboration, and the global generation of technology. The authors find quite distinct answers when the degree of globalization is evaluated separately on these three definitions. (c) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.

Towards a model of effective knowledge transfer within transnationals: The case of Chinese foreign invested enterprises

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2007

In this paper Chinese foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) are employed as prototypes to generate a model of how transnationals can transfer both tacit and explicit knowledge between their units as well as between FIEs and the parent organization. We propose that successful intra-organization knowledge transfer depends upon: (1) collective creation of knowledge as intellectual and social capital available throughout the organization; (2) trust-based collaboration among geographically dispersed entities that form the transnational organization; and (3) the willingness and ability of organizational units to use that knowledge. The paper further proposes that organizational knowledge should ideally flow in multiple directions, providing learning opportunities for both investing and host organizations. Implications for transfer of best practices, a specific form of tacit knowledge, are also offered. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries: Transnational Relations and Biodiversity Policy in Costa Rica and Bolivia

Book

Nov 2001

Paul Steinberg

In the absence of world government, effective national policy is essential to the success of international environmental initiatives. Yet research on global environmental cooperation has proceeded without models of policy change in developing countries, where most of the world's people, land, and species are found. In this book Paul Steinberg provides a theoretical framework to explain the domestic responses of developing countries to global environmental concerns. Drawing on extensive field research, he traces the evolution of public policies to protect biological diversity in Costa Rica and Bolivia over the past four decades, to understand how these countries emerged as leaders in tropical conservation and how international institutions might support similar outcomes in other countries. Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries explodes the myth that developing countries are too preoccupied with short-term economic growth and material survival to devote attention to global environmental concerns. Instead it offers a nuanced account of complex, decades-long efforts to create effective institutions, and analyzes the relative roles of foreign and domestic actors in this process.

Albert O. Hirschman: Development Projects Observed

Article

Jan 1969

H.W. Singer

Development projects observed

Book

Jan 2014

Originally published in 1967, the modest and plainly descriptive title of Development Projects Observed is deceptive. Today, it is recognized as the ultimate volume of Hirschman’s groundbreaking trilogy on development, and as the bridge to the broader social science themes of his subsequent writings. Though among his lesser-known works, this unassuming tome is one of his most influential. It is in this book that Hirschman first shared his now famous “Principle of the Hiding Hand.” In an April 2013 New Yorker issue, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an appreciation of the principle, described by Cass Sunstein in the book’s new foreword as “a bit of a trick up history’s sleeve.” It can be summed up as a phenomenon in which people’s inability to foresee obstacles leads to actions that succeed because people have far more problem-solving ability that they anticipate or appreciate. And it is in Development Projects Observed that Hirschman laid the foundation for the core of his most important work, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and later led to the concept of an “exit strategy.”

Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for industrial development

Article

Jan 1999

Leapfrog energy technologies

Article

Aug 1998
ENERG POLICY

Growth and development which are the fundamental aspirations of seventy percent of the world's population can lead to disastrous consequences from the environmental viewpoint if the patterns of consumption in use in developed countries were to be adopted by developing countries. It is argued that this disastrous course of events can be avoided 'leafrogging' the steps followed in the past by industrialized countries incorporating currently-available modern and efficient technologies early in their development process. Several examples are given in the energy area. A discussion is also made of the policies required to promote 'leapfrog' technologies.

Transferring Environmental Technologies to China: Recent Developments and Constraints

Article

May 2001
TECHNOL FORECAST SOC

Turlough F. Guerin

A discussion is presented on the key issues in the transfer of environmental technologies to China and more broadly South East (SE) Asia. It identifies constraints to this technology transfer, and in particular, the paper deals with the mechanisms involved including research and technology development and the major (but poorly documented) role of the private sector. The principle constraints to this technology transfer relate to an understanding of the legal context, limited financing, lax enforcement of intellectual property laws by the Chinese government, and a lack of appreciation of inter-cultural issues by the transferring organization. The purpose of the paper is to provide guidance to environmental technology vendors, and other organizations, primarily from Australia, that intend to engage in technology transfer activities with China.

Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2007 (Revised)

Article

Jan 2008

This report focuses on key trends in the U.S. wind power market, with an emphasis on the latest year, and presents a wealth of data, some of which has not historically been mined by wind power analysts.

Comparing and Miscomparing

Article

Jul 1991

Giovanni Sartori

I seek to explain the disappointing performance of the field of comparative politics addressing the three basic questions: Why compare? What is comparable? and How? I also challenge the view that the methodology of comparison is pretty well known and established. Hosts of unsettled issues remain, while a growing cause of frustration and failure is the undetected proliferation of `cat-dogs' (or worse), that is, nonexistent aggregates which are bound to defy, on account of their non-comparable characteristics, any and all attempts at law-like generalizations. The bottom line is that the comparative endeavor suffers from loss of purpose.

National Systems of Innovation. Towards a Theory of Innovation andInteractive Learning

Article

Jan 1995

Bengt-Åke Lundvall

Technology transfer for GHG reduction

Article

May 2002
TECHNOL FORECAST SOC

Vinish Kathuria

The Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) expressly commits the Annex I countries to provide financial resources and technology to developing countries so as to control, reduce, or prevent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The present paper argues that the ultimate goal of any action in the field of transfer of technology (TT) should not be only just to apply particular technological solutions to the GHG problem but to enhance the capabilities of developing countries to assess the need, select, import, assimilate, adapt, and develop the appropriate technologies. The paper also looks into the various dimensions of TT that results in capacity building in developing countries. Using case studies of two GHG-reducing technologies, one from the demand side [compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)] and the other from the supply side [photovoltaic (PV) cell], the paper tries to find out whether TT has been adequate in significant capacity building. The case studies show that the technology absorption is still incomplete. High up-front costs and lack of awareness (information) has resulted in significant underutilization of capacities, thus acting as major barriers in their diffusion. The paper also looks into the various market- and government-related barriers forestalling the diffusion of various GHG-reducing technologies.

FDI as a catalyst for industrial development

Article

The Rise of the Rest

Article

Feb 2001

Alice Amsden

Intellectual Property Protection, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Transfer

Article

Jan 1994

Edwin Mansfield

Policy makers and analysts require a better understanding of the effect, if any, that a developing country's system of intellectual property rights protection has on the transfer of technology to that country through foreign direct investment. Based on a combination of survey data, interview studies, and statistical analysis, the paper finds that the strength or weakness of a country's system of intellectual property protection seems to have a substantial effect, particularly in high-technology industries, on the kinds of technology transferred by many US firms to that country. Also, this factor seems to influence the composition and extent of US direct investment there, although the size of the effects seems to differ from industry to industry. The statistical analysis is only a beginning; further efforts should be made to refine and extend the results. Also, our findings pertain entirely to US direct investment; it would be worthwhile to extend the coverage to Japanese and European investment. -from Author

The Emergence of a Growth Industry: A Comparative Analysis of the German, Dutch and Swedish Wind Turbine Industries

Article

Anna Bergek

*Financial support from the Swedish National Energy Administration is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to all the people in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden who have contributed to the empirical content of this paper by allowing us to interview them. We are also grateful to Bo Carlsson and Michael Durstewitz for useful comments on an earlier draft. Abstract The objective of this paper is to compare th e evolution of the wind turbine industry in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Four factors stand out in explaining the relative success of the German industry: (1) creation of variety in an early phase, (2) establishment of legitimacy of wind energy, (3) the employment of advanced market creation policies in a later phase and (4) the use of industrial policy to favour the dom estic industry. Implications for policy include fostering legitimacy for the new technology and creating powerful, predictable and persistent economic incentives.

National Systems of Innovation: Toward a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning

Article

Jan 1992

Bengt-Åke Lundvall

America''s Green Strategy

Article

Jan 1991

Michael E. Porter

Intellectual Property Rights, Internalization and Technology Transfer

Article

Jul 2002

Michael W Nicholson

Intellectual property protection affects the manner in which multinational enterprises facilitate technology transfer from the innovating North to the developing South. Firms with products that are complex or technologically sophisticated will tend to internalize production through foreign direct investment. Firms that face a lower risk of imitation, or are less technically advanced, will tend to license production to non-affiliated Southern firms. Changes in intellectual property protection affect the level and the composition of technology transfer, depending on the value of the firm's proprietary asset.

Technological innovation and industrial organization in the Danish wind industry *

Article

Apr 1990
ENTREP REGION DEV

Peter Karnøe

The origin of this article is the paradox that heavy US R&D funding to hi-tech aerospace industry in the seventies and eighties was not able to provide an appropriate industrial technology base in wind technology that could match the wind turbines from the much more low-tech Danish machine industry (agricultural sector), which received very limited public R&D funding. Nevertheless, the Danish manufacturers took the lion's share of the world market in the eighties, in casu the California home market for the American producers. A bottom-up learning based development strategy almost completely outperformed a science based top down development strategy for this re-introduced energy technology (top down failures were also seen in the UK, Denmark, W. Germany). The top-down and bottom-up strategies reflect two very different types of de facto entrepreneurial behaviour and industrial organization.

Comparing innovation systems: a framework and application to China's transitional context

Article

May 2001
RES POLICY

This paper proposes a generic framework for analyzing innovation systems, anchored around five fundamental activities — R&D, implementation, end-use, education, linkage — and focused on the performance implications of a system's structure and dynamics. Rather than simply describing the role and performance of particular actors, institutions and policies, this approach focuses on system-level characteristics, including the distribution of these activities within the system, the organizational boundaries around them, coordination mechanisms, evolutionary processes, and the effectiveness of the system in introducing, diffusing and exploiting technological innovations. The framework is applied to a comparison of China's national innovation system under central planning and since reforms, revealing the evolving structure and dynamics of this system and current inconsistencies and perverse incentives that policymakers must address to realize their development goals. More generally, it provides a basis for addressing the implicit assumptions of organizational types, roles and convergence among innovation systems emerging in very different contexts, whether national, regional or industrial. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128

Article

May 1995

Annalee Saxenian

Compares the organization of regional economies, focusing on Silicon Valley's thriving regional network-based system and Route 128's declining independent firm-based system. The history of California's Silicon Valley and Massachusetts' Route 128 as centers of innovation in the electronics indistry is traced since the 1970s to show how their network organization contributed to their ability to adapt to international competition. Both regions faced crises in the 1980s, when the minicomputers produced in Route 128 were replaced by personal computers, and Japanese competitors took over Silicon Valley's market for semiconductor memory. However, while corporations in the Route 128 region operated by internalization, using policies of secrecy and company loyalty to guard innovation, Silicon Valley fully utilized horizontal communication and open labor markets in addition to policies of fierce competition among firms. As a result, and despite mounting competition, Silicon Valley generated triple the number of new jobs between 1975 and 1990, and the market value of its firms increased $25 billion from 1986 to 1990 while Route 128 firms increased only $1 billion for the same time period. From analysis of these regions, it is clear that innovation should be a collective process, most successful when institutional and social boundaries dividing firms are broken down. A thriving regional economy depends not just on the initiative of individual entrepreneurs, but on an embedded network of social, technical, and commercial relationships between firms and external organizations. With increasingly fragmented markets, regional interdependencies rely on consistently renewed formal and informal relationships, as well as public funding for education, research, and training. Local industrial systems built on regional networks tend to be more flexible and technologically dynamic than do hierarchical, independent firm-based systems in which innovation is isolated within the boundaries of corporations. (CJC)

Environmental leapfrogging in developing countries: A critical assessment and reconstruction

Article

Aug 2003
NAT RESOUR FORUM

Richard Perkins

It has been suggested in recent years that developing countries need not pass through the dirty stages of industrial growth that marred the past of today's developed countries. Instead, they may be able to bypass these by leapfrogging straight to modern, clean technologies as an integral part of capacity addition. This article critically reviews existing approaches to leapfrogging. It argues that they are not only characterized by considerable ambiguity, but also based on an incomplete understanding of the technological and policy requirements of cleaner industrialization. Consequently, the article goes on to offer a number of suggestions as to how current approaches might be advanced so as to better meet the challenge of leapfrogging. Amongst these suggestions is greater clarification of the specific targets for leapfrogging and policy intervention to accelerate the development of technological capabilities needed to select, absorb and innovate leapfrog technologies.

The Rise of "The Rest": Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing Economies

Book

Nov 2001

Alice H. Amsden

After World War II a select number of countries outside Japan and the West--those that Alice Amsden calls "the rest"--gained market share in modern industries and altered global competition. By 2000, a great divide had developed within "the rest", the lines drawn according to prewar manufacturing experience and equality in income distribution. China, India, Korea and Taiwan had built their own national manufacturing enterprises that were investing heavily in R&D. Their developmental states had transformed themselves into champions of science and technology. By contrast, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico had experienced a wave of acquisitions and mergers that left even more of their leading enterprises controlled by multinational firms. The developmental states of Mexico and Turkey had become hand-tied by membership in NAFTA and the European Union. Which model of late industrialization will prevail, the "independent" or the "integrationist," is a question that challenges the twenty-first century. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/0195139690/toc.html

Stimulating''Green''Technological Innovation: An Analysis of Alternative Policy Mechanisms

Article

Mar 1999

Vicki Norberg-Bohm

As our understanding of human impacts on the environment has increased, it has become clear that we need to move toward a closed-loop industrial society in order to avoid undesirable health and ecosystem consequences. Achievement of this goal depends on radical technological innovation in both products and processes. This paper explores how to design public policy mechanisms to stimulate rather than impede pollution-preventing technological innovation. It begins with a discussion of the role of government in civilian technology development and diffusion. It then sets out six design criteria for policy to promote green technology innovation. Based on this set of design criteria, the article assesses the potential and limitations of current U.S. policy approaches to stimulate technological innovation that moves us toward a minimal waste society. The main conclusions of this assessment are as follows. Over the past decade, the U.S. environmental policy system has experienced a variety of reforms and new initiatives, many aimed directly at promoting environmentally-friendly technological change. The strengths of these reforms are to increase the information that the private sector has about the magnitude and cost of their environmental impacts and to allow greater flexibility in the technologies that firms choose to meet environmental regulations and goals. Because of these reforms, firms are likely to undertake technological innovation for the environment in situations with clear short-term economic benefits, i.e. to capture the much heralded win-win potential of environmental regulation. However, these reforms have significant weaknesses as well. Unless policy provides stronger political or economic incentives and clearer signals about future environmental performance requirements, we are unlikely to be able to drive technological innovation in industries where the pay-off is more longterm or uncertain, and thus will make only limited progress toward the goal of a minimal waste society.

Limits to leapfrogging in energy technologies? Evidence from the Chinese automobile industry

Article

Mar 2006
ENERG POLICY

Kelly Sims Gallagher

Limits to leapfrogging in energy technologies? One of the most attractive notions in the field of sustainable energy development is the concept of energy-technology “leapfrogging”. Leapfrogging through international technology transfer can be especially problematic because often developing countries do not have the technological capabilities to produce or integrate the advanced energy technologies themselves. Until they have acquired the capabilities to produce the advanced technologies themselves, most late-industrializing countries buy their new technologies from industrialized countries, usually through licensing or joint-venture arrangements. Empirical case studies of the three main Sino-US passenger-car joint ventures reveal that until the late 1990s, little energy or environmental leapfrogging occurred in the Chinese automobile industry as the result of the introduction of US automotive technology. An improvement in Chinese capabilities and more stringent Chinese energy and environmental policies are needed to induce energy leapfrogging in the Chinese automobile industry. Foreign firms also have a social responsibility to contribute to China's sustainable industrial development. In order to realize the promise of the leapfrogging, the limits to leapfrogging must be identified and acknowledged so that strategies can be devised to surmount the barriers to the introduction of advanced energy technologies in developing countries.

Foreign Ownership and Technology Adoption: Evidence From Indian Firms

Article

Aug 2001
J DEV ECON

Firms in developing countries rely on foreign technology purchases to improve their technology. We use a theoretical framework developed by Katz and Shapiro to examine the ongoing technology adoption behavior of foreign-owned and domestic firms. Using firm level data on Indian firms from 1989 to 1993, we test this theoretical model. We find that foreign ownership, firm size and market structure are among the variables that impact a firm's probability of adopting new technology. We also find that the 1991 liberalization of technology transfer policies in India appears to have had a larger impact on foreign-owned firms than domestic firms.

Cost-competitive incentives for wind energy development in China: Institutional dynamics and policy changes

Article

Jul 2002
ENERG POLICY

This paper presents an overview of the development of wind power in China. The factors that affect the directions of wind power development are analyzed. It examines the economics of windfarm development and compares it with conventional energy sources. The major constraints in wind technology development, and defects of the current policies, are discussed. It points out that wind power development should be subject to rational policy change and institutional adjustment. It discusses the incentive mechanisms and institutional frameworks for future development. Particular importance is attributed to market incentives for wind power to reach the objectives of industrialization and commercialization. A number of cost-competitive incentive measures and policies are recommended: (i) introducing market based mechanisms through standard power purchase agreement; (ii) establishing effective investment policies and regulations to attract private investment; (iii) promoting localization of wind turbine production; (iv) adjusting tax and subsidy policies; and (v) reforming governmental institutions to make clear rules and responsibilities for policymaking, and enhancing communication/coordination between relevant government agencies in order to formulate uniform and effective policies.

Technology transfer for GHG reduction: A framework with application to India

Article

May 2002
TECHNOL FORECAST SOC

Vinish Kathuria

Commercialization of new technologies in India: An empirical study of perceptions of technology institutions

Article

Feb 2003
TECHNOVATION

In recent years technology has become not only an important dimension of national development and growth but also essential for survival in this competitive world. Consequently, development and commercialization of new technologies has become an activity of focal attention and a force to reckon with.India had started development of its scientific infrastructure in a planned way immediately after independence, however, technology development/commercialization attracted due attention of policy makers only since 1980s. The papers presents findings of field research undertaken by the authors to study the status of new technology commercialization practices in the country. The focus is on the parameters that influence the decision regarding commercialization of new technologies and the success of new technology ventures, the efficacy of existing financing/support mechanisms and the further actions required by stakeholder agencies, viz., industry, technology institutions, financial institutions and the government for further development of commercialization of new technologies in India. For better exposition the presentation is divided into sections dealing with introduction, technology commercialization — policy initiatives in India, need for the study, design and methodology, study findings and is summed up with concluding remarks.

Notions on learning applied to wind turbine development in the Netherlands and Denmark

Article

Feb 2004
ENERG POLICY

This research investigates how methods of learning influenced the emerging wind power industries in the Netherlands and Denmark. It is found that the manufacturing and implementation successes in Denmark contrast with the relatively poor progress in the Netherlands, and that one of the reasons for this is the contrast in learning mechanisms between the countries. We start from the perspective of innovation systems. Within these systems we place the focus on four types of learning processes: learning by searching, learning by doing, learning by using and learning by interacting. It is concluded that in Denmark, learning by interacting was the most important learning process, while in the Netherlands it was learning by searching. The Dutch wind turbine innovation system was a typical ‘science-push’ innovation system. The aim was to develop large wind turbines at a fast pace, based on the results of scientific research. Because of the lack of contacts between the researchers and the wind turbine producers, the implementation of the research results was problematic. Contrarily, in Denmark the focus was on knowledge transfer between turbine producers, turbine owners and researchers. In this innovation system, conditions for learning by interacting were optimal. In this way, wind turbines were successfully, though slowly, scaled up and improved.

Fostering a Renewable Energy Technology Industry: An International Comparison of Wind Industry Policy Support Mechanisms

Article

Mar 2007
ENERG POLICY

This article examines the importance of national and sub-national policies in supporting the development of successful global wind turbine manufacturing companies. We explore the motivations behind establishing a local wind power industry, and the paths that different countries have taken to develop indigenous large wind turbine manufacturing industries within their borders. This is done through a cross-country comparison of the policy support mechanisms that have been employed to directly and indirectly promote wind technology manufacturing in 12 countries. We find that in many instances there is a clear relationship between a manufacturer's success in its home country market and its eventual success in the global wind power market. Whether new wind turbine manufacturing entrants are able to succeed will likely depend in part on the utilization of their turbines in their own domestic market, which in turn will be influenced by the annual size and stability of that market. Consequently, policies that support a sizable, stable market for wind power, in conjunction with policies that specifically provide incentives for wind power technology to be manufactured locally, are most likely to result in the establishment of an internationally competitive wind industry.

Effectiveness through Risk Reduction: A Comparison of the Renewable Obligation in England and Wales and the Feed-In System in Germany

Article

Feb 2006
ENERG POLICY

The European Union is particularly rich in variations of different delivery mechanisms for increasing the use of renewable energy. The requirements of liberalisation in continental Europe, the re-regulation of the UK's gas and electricity sectors in 2000 and ongoing environmental commitments has meant the establishment of a new generation of mechanisms following on from early prototypes. This paper analyses two new mechanisms in detail: the England and Wales RO (Renewables Obligation) and the German EEG (Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz), with a particular focus on how they reduce risk for generators. Assuming that risk reduction is an important way to make a support mechanism effective in promoting deployment, the analysis will look at three different kinds of risk, namely, price, volume and balancing risk. It is argued that the German EEG is more effective at increasing the share of renewables than the England and Wales RO because it reduces risk for RES generators more effectively.

Indian wind energy programme: Performance and future directions

Article

Feb 1999
ENERG POLICY

This paper studies the characteristics of the Indian wind energy programme while setting out the developments that have taken place so far. An outstanding start has been made in commercializing wind energy in India. India is the first (and the only) developing country that has gained a high position in the world in terms of installed wind-power capacity. However, recently the market dynamics have changed. As a result, the pace of new additions is stalling. Major undercurrents to that effect in terms of policy, institutional and technical factors are analyzed. New policy initiatives are suggested, and they address the involved technical and commercial concerns of both the State-run utility and wind-power plant entrepreneurs to spur sustained development in the next millennium.

International Technology Transfer to India an Impedimenta and Impetuous

Article

Jan 2008

Subbarao Srinivas P

Technology transfer is an important means by which developing countries gain access to technologies that are new to them. Most technology transfer has between developed and developing countries through commercial technology transfers by the private sector. These include transfers through foreign direct investment, foreign licensing, turnkey projects, technical consultancy, capital goods acquisition, international subcontracting and joint ventures. By opening of the Indian economy (LPG policies-1991), several Indian companies are poised for different types of financial, technical and other forms of collaborations. Though they enter with proper technology transfer agreements, some are not successful with different reasons. Government of India?s Ministry of Scientific and Industrial Research is playing a vital role through its technology transfer policy in both inward and outwards technology transfers to the Indian companies through automatic route and some are through project approval board (PAB). The ability of the country to use technology transfers to develop their domestic capabilities to reap the social and economic benefits have been very mixed. This paper explores the important issues involved in the technology transfer besides the scope of technology transfer disputes and the promotion and regulation of technology transfer in India.

What Triggers Environmental Management and Innovation? : Empirical Evidence for Germany

Article

May 2008
ECOL ECON

It is frequently hypothesized that environmental management systems (EMSs) may improve a firm?s environmental performance. Whether or not this hypothesis is true is as important from the perspective of environmental policy as questions relating to the relevant incentives for (1) a firm?s voluntary adoption of an EMS and (2) its environmental innovation behavior. Based on ample empirical evidence for German manufacturing, this paper addresses these issues on the basis of a recursive bivariate probit model that explicitly takes into account that a facility?s decision on innovation activities is correlated with the decision on EMS certification. Our empirical results indicate that environmental innovation activities are not associated with EMS certification nor any other single policy instrument. Rather, innovation behavior seems to be correlated to the stringency of environmental policy.

The Uncertain Promise — Value Conflicts in Technology Transfer

Article

Jan 1979

Dennis Goulet

Based on research conducted between 1972-75 this study set out to answer the questions: 'is modern technology the key to successful development? Can technology be transferred from one cultural setting to another? How do policies for becoming technologically 'modern' relate to broader development goals in diverse nations?' The main focus is on the value conflicts which arise in transfers of technology from rich to poor countries at several levels: competing interests of buyers and sellers; tension between overall development goals and the impact of imported technology on poor countries and general questions about harnessing technology in any society to such humane ends as a satsifying scale of operations, ecological soundness and the just allocation of resources. Emphasis is given to industrial technology, but a case is made that this illuminates the dynamics of transfer and the implications of an uneven bargaining position. The study further restricts its analysis to transfers in the private rather than the state structure and concentrates on the relations between the US and Latin America.-R.Baker

Commercialising wind power in China : the policy challenge /

Article

Carol-Ann Brown

Supervisor: Dr W.D. MacMillan, Dr B.M. Boardman. Thesis (D. Phil.)--University of Oxford, 2002. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 393-418).

The Uncertain Promise: Value Conflicts in Technology Transfer

Article

Jun 1978

Richard D. Robinson

Inward Technology Transfer and Competitiveness: The Role of National Innovation Systems.

Article

Feb 1995
CAMB J ECON

This paper examines the role of national innovation systems in the inward transfer of technology that has underpinned the transformation of Japan and other East Asian economies since 1945. The economies that have benefited most from inward technology transfer have national innovation systems that have strengthened their 'national absorptive capacity.' This capacity relies primarily on investments in scientific and technical training and on economic policies that enforce competition among domestic firms. The particular channels for inward technology transfer, the identity of any 'strategic industries' targeted for public intervention, and the overall level of a nation's trade restrictions are all of secondary importance. (c) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.

The ‘National System of Innovation’ in Historical Perspective

Article

Feb 1995
CAMB J ECON

Chris Freeman

Contrary to some recent work on so-called 'globalization,' this paper argues that national and regional systems of innovation remain an essential domain of economic analysis. Their importance derives from the networks of relationships that are necessary for any firm to innovate. While external international connections are certainly of growing importance, the influence of the national education system, industrial relations, technical and scientific institutions, government policies, cultural traditions and many other national institutions is fundamental. The historical examples of Germany, Japan, and the former U.S.S.R. illustrate this point, as well as the more recent contrast between East Asian and Latin American countries. (c) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.

Localised Production of Technology for Global Markets.

Article

Feb 1995
CAMB J ECON

Pari Patel

Given the trends towards increasing globalization of markets and of production, the globalization of technology remains a subject of considerable interest to analysts and policymakers in the 1990s. The main conclusion of this paper is that there is no systematic evidence to suggest that widespread globalization of technological activities occurred in the 1980s. The evidence, based on the U.S. patenting activities of 569 of the world's largest firms (based in 13 countries, and covering 17 product groups), shows that for an overwhelming majority of them technology production remains close to the home base. The analysis also shows the dangers of generalizing on the basis of anecdotal evidence from a small sample of firms from a particular country or sector. (c) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.

Intellectual Property Protection, Direct Investment, and technology Transfer, Germany, Japan, and the United States

Article

Feb 1995

E. Mansfield

In IFC Discussion Paper 19, the author found that the strength or weakness of a country's system of intellectual property protection seems to have a substantial effect, particularly in high-technology industries, on the kinds of technology transferred by many US firms to that country. Also, this factor seems to influence the composition and extent of US direct investment there, although the size of the effects seem to differ from industry to industry. The present paper extends these results in two ways. First, the survey findings are expanded to include Japanese and German firms, which, of course, are responsible for massive direct investments in developing countries. Second, an econometric model is constructed to estimate the effects of the strength or weakness of intellectual property protection in a developing country on the amount of US direct investment there. The findings indicate that, in relatively high-technology industries, a country's system of intellectual property protection often has a significant effect on the amount and kinds of technology transfer and direct investment to that country by Japanese and German, as well as US firms. -from Author

International Technology Transfer

Article

Aug 1990
RES POLICY

La finalité de notre article est de comprendre la nature et la diversité des relations intervenant dans le processus de diffusion interorganisationnelle des connaissances. Notre questionnement porte dans un premier temps sur la nature des dimensions de ces relations et dans un second temps sur leur diversité. L’intérêt est double : préciser et compléter la littérature sur les dimensions de ces relations d’une part et comprendre la diversité des relations à considérer dans le processus de diffusion des connaissances et l’influence de cette diversité sur les dimensions mises en exergue d’autre part. La synthèse de la littérature sur la diffusion des connaissances révèle deux conceptions épistémologiques distinctes : la diffusion peut être perçue comme le « déplacement » d’une connaissance statique et désincarnée ou bien comme la « transmission » d’une connaissance dynamique et énactée. Le fondement commun à ces deux perspectives est mis en exergue : il s’agit de la relation interindividuelle (ou interaction), nécessaire à toute diffusion des connaissances. Notre approche se fonde sur la compréhension des relations interindividuelles au sein d’un support particulier de diffusion des connaissances : les communautés de pratiques interorganisationnelles au sein du groupe EDF. La démarche adoptée tente d’éviter l’écueil de la réification de l’organisation en s’intéressant aux interactions entre les individus. Notre étude de cas, caractérisée par une triangulation et une collecte des données en deux phases sur une période de 9 mois, se base sur l’étude de cinq communautés de pratiques. Les travaux sur les communautés de pratiques révèlent l’existence de trois dimensions majeures dans la relation : es dimensions affective, identitaire et fonctionnelle. Nos résultats se concentrent autour de deux points majeurs. En premier lieu, nous confirmons les trois dimensions proposées dans la littérature,

China’s Goldwind blows off U.S. IPO, stays at home

J Hua

Intellectual property protection, foreign direct investment, and technology transfer. International Finance Corporation, Discussion Paper 19; 1994. Marcusen JR, Venables AJ. Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for industrial development

Jan 1992

London

London: Pinter; 1992. Mansfield E. Intellectual property protection, foreign direct investment, and technology transfer. International Finance Corporation, Discussion Paper 19; 1994. Marcusen JR, Venables AJ. Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for industrial development. Eur Econ Rev 1999;43. Metcalfe S. The economic foundations of technology policy: equilibrium and evolutionary perspectives.

Technology Acquisition and Innovation in the Developing World: Wind Turbine Development in China and India

Abstract

No full-text available

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