UNIT 5- Technology and

Knowledge Environment

Understanding Technology Transfer in the Global

Scenario
Process of Knowledge Management
Managing the Knowledge Life Cycle
The Learning Organization
 Technology and technology
transfer
Technology comprises a systematically developed
set of information, skills and processes that are
needed to create , develop and innovate products
and services.
 Technology transfer is the movement of technology from
one person to another, one unit to another, or from one
company to another.
Technology competence is important not only for
sustaining international competitiveness, but also for
emerging economies…
Sophistic technologies are transferred to these countries
when prevailing economic conditions are appropriate
Transfer of technology also has to meet local objectives
and priorities….such as government regulations, export
requirements and licensing agreements
One of the key factors that influence technology is the
extent of capital participation and payments of
technology as agreed upon by the two countries
Global corporations emphasize technology
transfer among subsidiaries

International and global companies compete

fiercely to launch new technologies today. They
concentrate on three types of technologies:
Product-embodied technology
Process- embodied technology
Person-embodied technology
 Description of Technology Types

• Product-embodied technologies are transferred by

transferring the physical product itself

• Process-embodied technology is concerned with blueprint

or patent rights of the actual scientific processes and
engineering details from the developer to another

• Person-embodied technology is concerned with creating

continuous dialogue between the supplier and the recipient
organizations pertaining to the intrinsic nature, diffusion, and
utilization of certain scientific forms that are hard to articulate in
the form of either process or product
11-5
 Product-embodied technology
Transferring physical product
Example: Japan transfers heavy earth-tilling machinery and related
products, such as bulldozers, to a country such as Kuwait or
Argentina.
Global corporations from industrialized countries as well as those in
emerging economies such as India, Brazil, and China transfer
technologies to countries that are less developed and are less
developed and are able to pay for such technologies.
 Process embodied technologies
Transferring blueprints or patent rights of the actual
scientific processes and engineering details.
Example: transfer of chemical technology for the
manufacture of synthetic fabrics and offshore oil
exploration technology. Texaco transfers oil drilling
technology to its subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia or Nigeria
using internet or by trained technical personnel who
physically carry the manuals and procedures with them
 Person embodied technology
Transferring through continuous dialogue between the supplier and
the recipient organizations pertaining to the nature, diffusion and
utilization of scientific details that are hard to articulate in the form
of either process or product.
A series of exchanges may be needed for a global company.
Example: Bechtel in San Francisco transferred its technology for
creating Nuclear Power plants to a company located in Bombay,
India or Seoul, South Korea.
Factors influencing Technology Transfer are:

• Similar language
• Common ancestry and shared history
• Physical proximity
• Technical competence of the workforce
• Complexity of technology at the time of transfer.
• The number of successful prior transfers
 Factors Causing Difficulty in Technology
Transfer

• Differences in strategic thinking

• Characteristics of the technology involved

• Differences in organizational and corporate cultures

• Differences in societal cultures

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 Rate of Innovation and New Technology
Creation

Japan US

India
Rate of innovation
UK
or new technology France
creation Brazil

Collectivistic Individualistic
Countries Countries

11-11
 Knowledge

“Fluid mix of experience, values, contextual

information and expert insight that provides a
framework for evaluating and incorporating new
experiences and information”

11-12
 Features of Knowledge
(summarized by Nonaka and Takeuchi)

First, knowledge, unlike information, is about

beliefs and commitment. Knowledge is a function
of a particular stance, perspective, or intention.
Second, knowledge, unlike information, is about
action. It is always knowledge ‘to some end.’ And
third, knowledge, like information, is about
meaning. It is context-specific and relational.

11-13
 Intellectual Capital
The Intellectual capital of a global corporation is the sum
total of its stock of knowledge, which is described in
procedures and manuals as well as systematically
embedded in its unique culture and in the individuals of
the organization

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 Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is highly

personal, difficult to communicate and highly
specialized. It is hard to process and transfer
because it is a part of the historical and cultural
context in which the organization exists.

Explicit knowledge is knowledge that can be

written and transmitted. It is discrete or digital,
stored in repositories such as libraries and
databases.

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 Spiral of Knowledge Creation

Articulation

Socialization
Internalization
Combination

Socialization
Articulation

Combination Socialization
Internalization

Explicit Knowledge Tacit Knowledge

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 The term "learning organization"
It describes an organization with an ideal learning
environment, perfectly in tune with the organization's
goals.

Such an organization is a place "where people continually

expand their capacity to create the results they truly
desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are
nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and
where people are continually learning to see the whole
(reality) together."
 Laws of the fifth discipline
• Peter Senge propounded five disciplines to create a
Learning Organization. These five disciplines are:
• A shared Vision (1),
• Mental Models (2),
• Team Learning (3),
• Personal Mastery (4) and
• System Thinking (5).

The fifth Discipline, System Thinking, is the one discipline

that binds the other four and therefore the discipline
where the focus of Change Management should be.
 DISCIPLINES OF THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION
• There are five component technologies that provide a vital dimension in
building a learning organization –

• Systems Thinking—Business and other human endeavors are also

systems. They are bound by interrelated actions.
• As humans are a part of the network, it is difficult to see the whole
pattern of change instead we tend to focus on snapshots of isolated parts
of the system.
• Systems Thinking is a conceptual framework, a body of knowledge and
tool's that has been developed over a period of time to make the full
patterns clearer and to help us see how to change them effectively.
 PERSONAL MASTERY
• Mastery means a special level of proficiency.
• People with a high level of personal mastery consistently
realize the results that matter most deeply to them.

• Personal Mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and

deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of
developing patience and of seeing reality objectively.

• It is an essential cornerstone of the learning organization.

 MENTAL MODELS
• Mental Models—They are deeply ingrained assumptions
generalizations or even pictures, images that influence how
we understand the world and how we take action.

• The discipline of working with mental models starts with

turning the mirror inward, learning to unearth our internal
pictures of the world.

• It also includes the ability to carry on meaningful

conversations where people expose their own thinking
effectively.
 BUILDING SHARED VISION
• One idea about leadership that has inspired organizations for
thousands of years is the capacity to hold a shared picture of
the future we seek to create.

• Some Organizations like IBM had service, Polaroid had

instant photography, Ford had public transportation for the
masses and Apple had Computers for us.

• Though radically different in content and kind, all these

organizations managed to bind people together around a
common identity.
 BUILDING SHARED VISION
• When there is a genuine vision people excel and learn,
not because they are told to, but because they want
to.
• Many leaders have personal vision that never get
translated into shared vision that galvanize an
organization.

• A company’s shared vision has revolved around the

charisma of a leader. Or around a crisis that galvanizes
everyone temporarily.
 TEAM LEARNING
• Teams can learn together be it in sports, in performing
arts, in science and even occasionally, in business there
are striking examples where the intelligence of the team
exceeds the intelligence of the individuals in the team.
• When the teams are learning, then they are producing
extraordinary results and the individual members are
growing more rapidly.

• Team learning is vital because teams and not individuals

are the fundamental learning unit in modern organization.
 TEAM LEARNING
• Unless teams can learn, Organizations cannot learn.
• A discipline is a developmental path for acquiring certain skills .

• As with any discipline, from playing piano to electrical

engineering some people have an innate gift, but anyone can
develop proficiency through practice.

• To practice a discipline is to be a lifelong learner.

• That organizations can benefit from disciplines is not a totally

new idea.
 Advancements in technology
Technology is evolving rapidly. Artificial
intelligence, geotargeting, automation, and
other advancements in information technology
specifically set the stage for more technological
evolution. Robotics are becoming smarter, and
even our thermostats and refrigerators can be
connected to the internet.
Artificial Intelligence
 Imp please read
• Link for further reading
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/
Business%20Functions/McKinsey%20Digital/Our
%20Insights/Disruptive%20technologies/MGI_Di
sruptive_technologies_Executive_summary_Ma
y2013.ashx

https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/lv/pdf/
disruptive-tech-2017-part2.pdf