Abstract

Technology Transfer (TT) projects involve the cross-boarder transfer of technology with the main purpose of enhancing the local technological capabalities in response to a changing economic environment. Technological capability refers to an organisation’s capacity to deploy, develop and utilise technological resources and integrate them with other complementary resources to supply the differentiated products and services. Technological capability is embodied not only in the employees’ knowledge and skills and the technical system, but also in the managerial system, values and norms. Therefore, the phenomena of TT projects occur at the macro and micro level in organisations. The main problem identified in international TT is the lack of managerial capabilities. The common question is how to measure technological capabilities from the perspective of technology receivers.
The objective of this paper is to measure the level of technological capabilities in TT projects. The empirical research was undertaken by means of Case Studies using semi-structured interviews with Human Resource Management officers from six (6) Category of G7 contractor companies in Malaysia. . A total of six organisations (currently engaged in overseas projects) were involved representing 100% response rate. The results were analysed using of NVivo software version 8.
The findings revealed that, three components for measuring the level of technological capabilities in TT projects are production performance (i.e., construction cost, time, product quality, safety, productivity, profitability, and client satisfaction); technology utilisation (i.e., labour force and organisation & management); and firm’s/orgaisation’s capability (i.e., tools & equipment, research input and development output). These measurements could be used as a guideline for measuring technological capabilities in TT projects for construction organisations.

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