Chapter 7: Toward a New Conceptualization of Technology Transfer Management

To compete in a globalized competitive business environment, companies are increasingly investing in new technologies. The successful transfer, adoption, and integration of new technologies has emerged as a primary source of competitive advantage. Although the subject of technology transfer has been widely studied, there is a lack of conceptual integration. In this article, we deepen the study of technology transfer by operationalizing Agmon and von Glinow’s (1991) typology in order to investigate how to effectively manage the transfer process of three types of technologies, namely product-, process-, and person-embodied technologies. We propose a conceptual model to establish linkages among the transferring processes of the three types of technologies. Based on the model, a set of hypotheses is developed to explore a variety of factors that might impact the effectiveness of the technology transfer.