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Acquisition of Capabilities through International Technology Transfer
Abstract
The focus in this thesis is on the acquisition of static and cynamic capabilities in LDC industry. This has been studied in small industries in Tanzania, which were started through international technology transfer, in which small producing firms from Sweden acted as technology suppliers (The Sister Industry Programme).
The data has been collected during an eight-year period, beginning from the start of the first projects in Tanzania in 1978. In total, interviews have been conducted in 22 Tanzanian firms and 18 Swedish firms, supplemented by interviews with authorities and consultants. An in-depth study of acquired capabilities was carried out in 1983, forming the basis for an assessment of the technology transfer programme. An analytical scheme was made for the analysis of static and dynamic technological and managerial capabilities. These include production/administrative and inventive/entrepreneurial capabilities. Furthermore, during the course of the research, a method was developed for estimating the dynamic long-term effects in terms of magnitude of the capability contribution from the international technology transfer project.
It was found that capability acquisition is a complex and long-term process, of which an international technology transfer project is only one step. Previous industrial experience is essential in order to benefit from an overseas training programme. While small scale industries were shown to be excellent in transferring production capabilities, they were less successful in the transfer of administrative and dynamic capabilities. This was primarily due to their inherent weakness of having a shortage of qualified personnel for training activities. However, through long-term cooperation, initially based on a contract and later developing in to a business relationship, and recurrent training periods in Sweden, it has been shown that several of the small Tanzanian firms have been able to acquire substantial stocks of dynamic capabilities. The Swedish firm has thus supplied the Tanzanian firms with new information and knowledge, having the double function of compensating for weaknesses in the local Tanzanian network and sometimes serving as a link to an international market. Based on these findings, the present study also makes some additions to the conceptualization of the infant industry process. Lastly, recommendations are provided for improving a sister industry type of technology transfer.
... In the discussions related to social enterprise, another concept is also discussed in Sweden-that of societal entrepreneurship (samhällsentreprenörskap). The term was first used in the mid-1980s, when Johannisson (1985) and Alänge (1987) used it with reference to entrepreneurial initiatives focusing on local community development. The authors of these articles then translated samhällsentreprenörskap to community entrepreneurship in English. ...
... There are no statistical accounts or other systematic investigations of this model of social enterprise either. There are, however, studies including several different cases of societal entrepreneurship (Johannisson 1985;Alänge 1987;Holmberg et al. 2007;Gawell et al. 2009;Berglund et al. 2013;von Friedrichs et al. 2014). ...
This chapter provides a brief overview of the history of the Danish welfare state, an understanding of the institutional trajectory and legal forms of social enterprise. From a macro perspective, three major periods can be identified in the institutionalisation of Social Enterprise models in Denmark; such institutionalisation can also be approached by analysing the "individual" institutional trajectories of the main models of social enterprise. A number of business legal forms can be adopted by social enterprises in Denmark; they are presented in this chapter. The Danish ecosystem of support for social entrepreneurship and social enterprise consists of different dimensions. The chapter illustrates how five significant and influential platforms, bringing together various actors, have developed SE-related concepts and practices. However, in the recent decades, new developments have occurred: interesting Danish—and perhaps even Nordic—(social) entrepreneurial welfare-state position and practice have emerged, that identify as the "innovative and entrepreneurial welfare state"
... In the discussions related to social enterprise, another concept is also discussed in Sweden-that of societal entrepreneurship (samhällsentreprenörskap). The term was first used in the mid-1980s, when Johannisson (1985) and Alänge (1987) used it with reference to entrepreneurial initiatives focusing on local community development. The authors of these articles then translated samhällsentreprenörskap to community entrepreneurship in English. ...
... There are no statistical accounts or other systematic investigations of this model of social enterprise either. There are, however, studies including several different cases of societal entrepreneurship (Johannisson 1985;Alänge 1987;Holmberg et al. 2007;Gawell et al. 2009;Berglund et al. 2013;von Friedrichs et al. 2014). ...
... In the discussions related to social enterprises, another concept is also discussed in Sweden: that of societal entrepreneurship (samhällsentreprenörskap). The term was first used in the mid-1980s, when Johannisson (1985) and Alänge (1987) used it with reference to entrepreneurial initiatives focusing on local community development. The authors of these articles then translated samhällsentreprenörskap to community entrepreneurship in English. ...
... There are no statistical accounts or other systematic investigations of this version of social enterprises either. There are however studies including several different cases of societal entrepreneurship (Johannisson 1985;Alänge 1987;Holmberg et al. 2007;Gawell et al. 2009;Berglund et al. 2013;). ...
... Vad som krävs för att sätta igång en förändring är att man har ett mål som känns tillräckligt nära, ibland kan detta för en individ ligga på något som skall uppnås inom 3 månader." 73Alänge (1987) utvecklade en analytisk begreppsapparat bestående av statisk och dynamisk management och teknisk förmåga. I denna utgjorde "administrative capabilities" den statiska förmågan och "entrepreneurial capabilities" den dynamiska förmågan av det som benämndes "management" eller "managerial capabilities". ...
Många tecken tyder på att vi är mitt inne i ett paradigmskifte, där ett nytt sätt att bedriva verksamhet påverkar såväl tillverkande industri som privat och offentlig serviceverksamhet. Detta nya sätt att bedriva verksamhet karakteriseras av att samtliga människor inom en organisation engageras i att använda alla sina resurser, inklusive sin inneboende kreativitet, till att på bästa sätt tillgodose eller överträffa kunders förväntningar. Denna förändring ställer i sin tur nya krav på ledarstil, förankring av visioner och mål, motivationssystem, kontinuerligt lärande och processynsätt. Toppledarens betydelse för större förändringar i inriktning och grundläggande värderingar, dvs. ett paradigmskifte, har påpekats av många forskare och i litteraturen förekommer flera exempel på betydelsen av toppledares involvering och engagemang i större förändringsprocesser, både från Sverige och i internationella företag. Boken baseras på intervjuer med tolv koncernchefer vid några av Sveriges största företag: Astra, Electrolux, Posten, SAS, S-E Banken, SJ, Skandia, SKF, Stora, Telia, Tetra-Laval och Vattenfall. Boken presenterar och analyserar koncernchefernas samlade syn på ledarskap och krav på ledaregenskaper, idag och i framtiden. Boken innehåller även en jämförelse med andra ledares uppfattning om ledarskap. På frågor om morgondagens ledarskap; om vad koncerncheferna anser kommer att krävas av storföretagsledare i framtiden och om finns det behov av att förändra och utveckla dagens ledarskap kan svaren sammanfattas i fyra behov: Integritet, förmåga att få med sig sina medarbetare, mångkulturell kompetens samt förmåga att hantera ny teknologi och nya organisationsformer. Dessutom betonade några chefer vikten av att inse att framtidens krav är dagens verklighet, dvs. att framtiden redan är här.
... 7 Mair and Martí (2006: 36) defined social entrepreneurship as entrepreneurship that gives higher priority to promoting social value and development versus capturing economic value. Our definition is based on Alänge (1987) who, with reference to Johannisson (1985), defined the social entrepreneur as 'an individual with a vision of the future who stimulates the local people to start their own businesses' and who contributes to the process of developing the business climate, the social network and the local arenas. 8 This was emphasized in several cluster studies presented at the TCI conference in Ottawa in 2004. ...
The Triple Helix model of innovation systems is widely diffused. The fundamental idea of the model is that ‘university’ can play an enhanced role in innovation in knowledge-based societies and that the three helices – ‘university’, ‘industry’ and ‘government’ – interact in order to produce innovation and therefore regional and national economic growth. This is, however, only one model among several different systemic approaches for explaining regional differences in innovativeness. While the triple helix model emphasizes the role of the university for regional innovativeness, the other systemic approaches call attention to either industry or government as having the lead role in innovation. Further, the triple helix model is developed and primarily explored from a macro-level perspective and not from a firm-level perspective. Finally, while the theoretical value of triple helix interactions are reasonably confirmed, there are still gaps in the triple helix concept, and the practical value is only just beginning to realize its potential. From a firm-level perspective, the purpose of this article is therefore to test the applicability and practical value of the triple helix model when exploring the formation and growth of firms using the case of Google Inc. Useful when exploring a firm’s formation and growth, the triple helix model forces the exploration to start even before the entrepreneur enters the scene, which provides a more holistic picture of firm formation. The three helices were all found to play important but changing roles in the different phases of firm formation and growth. The Google case contributes further understanding of the nature and historical evolution of interactions between the three helices, thereby filling some gaps in the triple helix concept. The Google case also identifies a number of mechanisms for interaction and the important role of the bridging organizations that connect the helices and contribute to the development of interactions. Finally, the concept of ‘spaces’ proved relevant and useful, although in the perspective of a firm, the concept has a broader meaning and exists on different levels.
Whereas previous chapters of The Silicon Valley Model have dealt with human-factor aspects of the new approach to management—such as recognizing and recruiting talented people, building an entrepreneurial culture, and personal leadership—this chapter delves more deeply into the organizational aspects. The importance of having Dynamic Capabilities is explained, along with a closely allied topic: creating an Ambidextrous organization, able to innovate while optimizing current operations. Three fundamental ways of building innovation into the firm are considered: innovation inside present operations, innovation by separate innovation units, and different approaches to open innovation.
For many years there has been discussion about the definitions and issues at stake in entrepreneurship research. Adding a social or societal element does little to clarify matters, even in the emerging field of social or societal entrepreneurship and social enterprises. In this chapter, the use of these conceptualizations in theory as well as practice, is elaborated on primarily in a Swedish setting; however, as we will see, similar expressions are just as relevant in other countries. The aim here is to chart this emerging field with an eye to the critical discussions of tensions and priorities.
This paper evaluates the Swedish industrial policy for the textile and clothing industry and attempts to provide an interview-based method for assessing the effects of state intervention. The Swedish industrial policy, in the period 1970–1990, was general and defensive in character. In the majority of firms interviewed, government policy had either no effect at all on firm behaviour or where effects were found there were no underlying market imperfections. Only in a minority of firms was it found that the policy alleviated market imperfections and changed firms' investment behaviour in a way which was judged to be beneficial for the firms' competitiveness. Therefore, the Swedish industrial policy for the textile and clothing industry was associated with very substantial inefficiencies in the use of sizeable resources.
This paper analyzes the evolution and role of corporate entrepreneurship in Swedish industry, particularly for the 1945–1980 period, based on data on the 100 economically most important innovations during this period. Privately owned large corporations (Schumpeter Mark II) dominated in launching innovations in almost all industrial sectors and in all subperiods but decreasingly so. 20% of the innovations were launched by new firms (Schumpeter Mark I) but most of these new firms were spun-off and/or acquired by large corporations. State entrepreneurship was marginal. Universities played an important role, although sector-specific. New firms and existing firms had similar growth rates and almost identical and short gestation times to international markets for their innovations. 80% of the corporate innovations were product renewals rather than product diversifications or process innovations. No evidence of an evolution from autonomous over corporate to state entrepreneurship, as hypothesized by Schumpeter, was found. Evolution of a dynamic coexistence of. these forms of entrepreneurship is hypothesized in this paper. The paper finally presents a model, synthesizing Schumpeter Mark I and II, for analyzing technological change and entrepreneurship.
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