In this book, Nagesh Kumar and expert contributors examine and explain the emerging patterns in international technology transfers and foreign direct investment flows (FDIs) over the past two decades. They analyse the trends in internationalization of corporate activity in individual source countries, discussing outflows from both major and emerging source countries. This departs from the existing treatments of FDI as homogenous resource and allows for a more detailed prediction of future outflow patterns. Throughout, the research focuses upon the implications of new trends for developing countries. Kumar concludes by outlining the policy implications for the governments of such countries seeking to mobilize technology and FDI for their industrialization and further integration into the international community. Controversially, he cautions against excessive optimism about the potential of FDI inflows as an agent of development. This book draws together much data and information which is not readily available and provides reflections upon international business negotiations from a developing country's perspective.

Abstract: May 2000 - How much a developing country can take advantage of technology transfer from foreign direct investment depends partly on how well educated and well trained its workforce is, how much it is willing to invest in research and development, and how much protection it offers for intellectual property rights. Saggi surveys the literature on trade and foreign direct investment - especially wholly owned subsidiaries of multinational firms and international joint ventures - as channels for technology transfer. He also discusses licensing and other arm's-length channels of technology transfer. He concludes: How trade encourages growth depends on whether knowledge spillover is national or international. Spillover is more likely to be national for developing countries than for industrial countries; Local policy often makes pure foreign direct investment infeasible, so foreign firms choose licensing or joint ventures. The jury is still out on whether licensing or joint ventures lead to more learning by local firms; Policies designed to attract foreign direct investment are proliferating. Several plant-level studies have failed to find positive spillover from foreign direct investment to firms competing directly with subsidiaries of multinationals. (However, these studies treat foreign direct investment as exogenous and assume spillover to be horizontal - when it may be vertical.) All such studies do find the subsidiaries of multinationals to be more productive than domestic firms, so foreign direct investment does result in host countries using resources more effectively; Absorptive capacity in the host country is essential for getting significant benefits from foreign direct investment. Without adequate human capital or investments in research and development, spillover fails to materialize; A country's policy on protection of intellectual property rights affects the type of industry it attracts. Firms for which such rights are crucial (such as pharmaceutical firms) are unlikely to invest directly in countries where such protections are weak, or will not invest in manufacturing and research and development activities. Policy on intellectual property rights also influences whether technology transfer comes through licensing, joint ventures, or the establishment of wholly owned subsidiaries. This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study microfoundations of international technology diffusion. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Microfoundations of International Technology Diffusion. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

The importance of international technology diffusion (ITD) for economic development can hardly be overstated. Both the acquisition of technology and its diffusion foster productivity growth. Developing countries have long sought to use both national policies and international agreements to stimulate ITD. The 'correct' policy intervention, if any, depends critically upon the channels through which technology diffuses internationally and the quantitative effects of the various diffusion processes on efficiency and productivity growth. Neither is well understood. New technologies may be embodied in goods and transferred through imports of new varieties of differentiated products or capital goods and equipment, they may be obtained through exposure to foreign buyers or foreign investors or they may be acquired through arms-length trade in intellectual property, e.g., licensing contracts. 'Global Integration and Technology Transfer' uses cross-country and firm level panel data sets to analyze how specific activities exporting, importing, FDI, joint ventures impact on productivity performance.

The importance of technology transfer for the competitive advantage of companies and the economic success of nations cannot be overstated. Technology is a determining element for firms and nations to increase productivity, to compete, and to prosper. In The Competitive Advantage of Regions and Nations, the authors stress that companies, investment promotion agencies, and government bodies cannot simply sit and wait until new technologies arrive in their domain. Rather, they need to manage the identification, assessment, attraction, absorption and application of new technologies. In this comprehensive book, Boris Ricken and George Malcotsis explain how technology transfer in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects can be systematically managed. Using some 40 case studies as illustration, they give step-by-step guidance for managers. The explanation of theory in this book, together with the frameworks and cases delivering solutions to the various challenges of technology transfer will be highly appreciated by managers of companies, investment promotion agencies, and government bodies alike. It also offers students confronted with the topic an understandable study guide.

Bridging the technology gap is an issue faced by most countries, but in developing countries the issue is doubly critical. Not only do they lag further behind relative to other countries but they also face more stringent resource constraints. This title provides a through overview of the economics of ITT relevant to developing countries and will be invaluable as a reference tool for policy makers, trade officials and trade negotiators.Part One identifies the role played by existing policy in trade, foreign direct investment and intellectual property rights in facilitating International Technology Transfer (ITT). Pertinent analysis of the major implications of the report is given.The WTO Working Group on Trade and Technology Transfer was established with the aim of encouraging technology transfer to developing countries. Part Two outlines the Group's findings for increasing flows of technology.

The impact of globalization on the world's developing economies is not conclusive: studies show conflicting conclusions to the same problems in the context of globalization in developing countries. It is this analytical inconclusiveness that is at the heart of this collection, which makes a fresh attempt to study the real impact of globalization.

This volume collects 30 papers covering channels of international technology transfer; multinational firms, market structure, and welfare; intellectual property rights, foreign direct investment, and innovation; flexibilities contained in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); exhaustion of intellectual property rights and compulsory licensing of patents; trade, foreign direct investment, and industrial policy; and oligopolistic competition, research and development, and vertical contracts.