The Market for Know-How and the Efficient International Transfer of Technology

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9747622
AutoresDavid J Teece (0000-0002-4532-2834)
Año1981
Volumen458
Número1
Páginas81-96
Fecha de publicación1981-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/000271628145800107
OpenAlexW2122589220
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas28

This article explores the nature of international technology transfer and the operation of the market for know-how. It begins by examining the relationship between codification and transfer costs and then analyzes various imperfections in the market for know-how. The special properties of know-how are shown to confound various aspects of the exchange process when arms-length contracting is involved. The internalization of the exchange process within multinational firms serves to bypass many of these difficulties, and explains why the multinational firm is of such importance. Several forms of regulation of technology imports and exports are examined. It is discovered that the process is insufficiently well understood to permit the design of effective regulation that, moreover, appears unlikely to eliminate inefficiency. An efficiency focus is maintained throughout since I feel no qualification to pontificate on complex and confused distributional issues

Business · Commerce · Economics · Industrial organization · Inefficiency · International economics · International trade · Market economy · Multinational corporation · Process (computing · Technology transfer · Computer Science · Economic Growth and Productivity · Finance