July 1995
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78 Reads
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3 Citations
This paper presents the perceptions of British and other foreign companies on the situation in China with regard to technology transfer. It is based mainly on a questionnaire survey conducted by Aston Business School in collaboration with the China-Britain Trade Group, supplemented by selected interviews. The survey represents part of a wider program of research into industrial development and technology transfer under China's economic policy reforms, funded by the British Council, which is being conducted in partnership with the People's University of China. The findings from the survey and interviews shows that the potential for technology transfer to China is well recognized but possible obstacles such as time consuming negotiations, inconvenience of communications, bureaucracy, and vague organizational authority are also identified. Culture differences have become increasingly understood and generally accepted but their influence is also seen to extend to commercial habits and management methods and attitude. In many industries the shortage of managerial know-how, poor quality of currently-used equipment, a lack of good infrastructure support, and the unsatisfactory protection of transferred technology are inadequacies which prevent effective absorption of technology, guaranteed product quality, and willingness to transfer advanced foreign technology. Opinions on the effectiveness of information sources are heavily influenced by each individual company's contacts with, or visits to, China. There are variations in perceptions concerning Chinese economic policy, level of technological development, conditions of equipment, managerial know-how, and skills of the labour force which may suggest an imbalance in Chinese industrial development between different industrial sectors and enterprises.
