TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY, AND CULTURAL RECEPTIVITY PROBLEMS

The prominent role of technology in economic development has made technology transfer a fertile area of research in recent times. Scholars of economic development often push the “late‐comer hypothesis” which emphasizes that LDCs can easily catch‐up with, and may even surpass, the advanced industrial nations. Yet in many situations, repeated efforts at implementing national economic agenda have failed to corroborate that theory. This article discusses some vexing difficulties and controversies surrounding the transfer process, and posits that unsuccessful technology transfer is attributable to factors which are rooted in cultural, economic, and political differences between the transferrer and recipient nations.