Date of Publication

1-1-1973

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Systems Science

Department

Systems Science

Language

English

Subjects

System design, Technological innovations -- Mathematical models, Technological innovations -- India -- Mathematical models, Technology transfer

DOI

10.15760/etd.582

Physical Description

xiv, 213 leaves

Abstract

The importance of technology transfer to produce structural change in developing regions has been well established. However, most previous transfers to developing regions have been unplanned or triggered by actions rather than decisions. Most previous inquiries have been based on unidimensional, sectorial and mostly economic views of technology transfer; this author believes these to be inadequate representations of the transfer process. This dissertation proposes a new inquiring system for technology transfer; one which emphasizes a multidimensional viewpoint of the technology transfer process. Further, this dissertation claims to make three unique contributions: 1. a new hierarchical structure for examining the technology transfer problem. 3. a demonstration example of the suggested methodology. Special emphasis is placed on the needs of planners and policymakers who are considered the clients of the proposed inquiring systems. The hierarchical structure has three levels, each emphasizing the three critical dimensions of technology transfer: 1) resources, 2) transfer mechanisms, and 3) economic and sociocultural consequences. The goals and/or results at each of the three levels of the hierarchical structure are: 2. three measures for assessing thle performance of technology transfer. Level 1: At this level, a novel generalized morphological tree is developed to indicate structural differences of technology transfer along the three critical dimensions. Level 2: At this level, interactious between the variables specified in Level l are considered. These interactions are expressed in the form of self-interaction and cross-interaction matrices. The proposed structure of technology transfer is established in terms of these matrices. Level 3: This level specifies, in a flowgraph form, the decision, information and logic requirements to design a "most satisfactory" technology transfer. The development of these three levels combines quantitative and qualitative viewpoints, since a strictly quantitative approach would lead to an incomplete, unrealistic representation of the problem. The three measures to assess the performance of technology transfer are: feasibility in terms of resources required for transfer,efficiency expressed in terms of applicability of transfer mechanisms, and desirability in terms of the consequences of transfer. Policy statements, in the form of logic or assignment statements, are developed to estimate the nature and magnitude of the three performance measures. A horizontal transfer, specifically the transfer of computer technology to India, is considered to illustrate the proposed methodology. The hierarchical structure is developed and performance measures for the transfer are estimated. The results indicate: (a) the transfer is feasible in terms of most resource requirements, but under the constraints of domestic availability, productivity and cost, (b) the channel direct investment by business -- is most applicable for the transfer. The channels -- entrepreneur and licensing arrangements -- are of limited applicability. The mechanism -- direct investment by Indian government is applicable if long transfer times can be tolerated, and (c) the economic consequences of the transfer are significant and desirable. However, the transfer is found to have little impact on such important sectors as literacy, food, communication and characters of social organization.

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Comments

Portland State University. Systems Science Ph. D. Program.

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/4505

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