Technology transfer : a case study
type: CreativeWork
description: Like many developing countries, Thailand has adopted industrialisation policies to achieve growth objectives. At the same time direct foreign investment has been encouraged to bring additions to the local stock of capital, management and technology. From the early 1970s, there has been growing disillusion about the benefits that a host country can gain from direct foreign investment. Direct foreign investment has been attacked as bringing inappropriate technology, inhibiting local learning and perpetuating technological dependence. This thesis has taken Thai manufacturing industry as a case study. The study argues that modern large-scale manufacturing industries must be viewed as skills rather than employment generators. Employment objectives could not be achieved in any significant degree under the current strategy regardless of channels for technology transfer. Part I examines the role of direct foreign investment and other channels for transferring technology to Thailand, the cost of importing technology through direct foreign investment and technology contracts, and the relative efficiency of these channels in exploiting imported technology. Evidence suggests that the weakness of local technical and industrial expertise often makes direct foreign investment, especially joint venture arrangements, the preferred form of transferring technology although its cost in terms of royalty payments is slightly higher. Local sectors turned out to be relatively efficient in bargaining for technology. Other invisible costs and factors which affect the pricing of technology are also discussed. The positive spill-over effects of direct foreign investment, though they exist, are weak. This is partly attributable to the early stage of industrialisation of Thailand, the small size of Thai industries and the relative inefficiency of direct foreign investment in some sectors. Like many developing countries, Thailand has adopted industrialisation policies to achieve growth objectives…
abstract: Like many developing countries, Thailand has adopted industrialisation policies to achieve growth objectives. At the same time direct foreign investment has been encouraged to bring additions to the local stock of capital, management and technology. From the early 1970s, there has been growing disillusion about the benefits that a host country can gain from direct foreign investment. Direct foreign investment has been attacked as bringing inappropriate technology, inhibiting local learning and perpetuating technological dependence. This thesis has taken Thai manufacturing industry as a case study. The study argues that modern large-scale manufacturing industries must be viewed as skills rather than employment generators. Employment objectives could not be achieved in any significant degree under the current strategy regardless of channels for technology transfer. Part I examines the role of direct foreign investment and other channels for transferring technology to Thailand, the cost of importing technology through direct foreign investment and technology contracts, and the relative efficiency of these channels in exploiting imported technology. Evidence suggests that the weakness of local technical and industrial expertise often makes direct foreign investment, especially joint venture arrangements, the preferred form of transferring technology although its cost in terms of royalty payments is slightly higher. Local sectors turned out to be relatively efficient in bargaining for technology. Other invisible costs and factors which affect the pricing of technology are also discussed. The positive spill-over effects of direct foreign investment, though they exist, are weak. This is partly attributable to the early stage of industrialisation of Thailand, the small size of Thai industries and the relative inefficiency of direct foreign investment in some sectors. Like many developing countries, Thailand has adopted industrialisation policies to achieve growth objectives…
author: Santikarn, Mingsarn
language: en
date published: 1977
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:07:35Z
provider: Australian Catholic University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian Catholic University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/122825