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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The construction industry has shown an inherent inability to adopt advanced technological innovations. The construction innovation literature is highly fragmented and outlines an overwhelming number of factors that arguably influence the transfer of technological innovations in construction. Factor-based research in the construction innovation literature tends to set out technological innovations and their adoption as socially neutral events, overlooking the role of context in the adoption process. Hence, the authors’ understanding of how technological innovations are transferred and implemented in the construction industry remains limited by the constraints of reductionist approaches adopted by factor-based research. This paper aims to advance the authors’ understanding of the actual experiences of technological innovations transfer in construction. Instead of introducing another set of factors, the research, through empirical investigation, develops a comprehensive and holistic framework to re-interpret the existing factor-based literature taking into consideration the role of the construction context and the socially constructed nature of technological innovations.

This research uses a participatory exploratory multiple case study design strategy, which has much in common with action research. The factors that could influence the transfer of technological innovations were investigated in three selected case studies over an extended period of time. During the research, a prototype system application of construction integration was used as a basis to discuss the adoption of technological innovations.

The findings suggest moving from the commonly held beliefs in the rational school of technological innovation and the functionalist paradigm towards constructivist approaches to capture the role of context and the stoically constructed nature of technological innovations. It is suggested that construction companies need to develop management capabilities to manage the changing political environments of the adoption process. The research supports the emerging view of technological innovations in construction as a collaborative-based innovation, which is a function of relationships and context.

The research is limited by the settings of the action research design and the use of an interpretive approach. Because the focus was on investigating the “why” question, little attention was given to the “how” question. Accordingly, the findings provide little insights into the way organizations can manage the changing political and social environment of the adoption process. The authors also acknowledge that in spite of their best efforts to build a theoretically grounded framework of factors, they may have overlooked some relevant studies. However, the objective of this research was not to conduct a systematic literature review or to come up with a framework that quantitatively captures all previous research studies; instead, the objective was to build a holistic framework that can be used as a base to analyze the role of construction context and the socially constructed nature of technological innovations in the adoption process.

The research offers several practical insights. First, it suggests that construction companies need to develop management capabilities to be able to lead the changing political environment of the adoption process successfully. Second, the research supports the emerging view of technological innovations in construction as a collaborative-based innovation that is a function of relationship. From a policy perspective, the research provides the basis to reconsider the effectiveness of federal and provincial policies that promote advanced technological Initiatives. The majority of these policies focus on the technical aspects in assessing the adoption of technological innovation, providing little incentives to companies to manage the changing political and social environment of the adoption process.

This research offers several theoretical and methodological contributions. First, it advances the authors’ understanding of the actual experiences of the transfer of technological innovations in construction organizations. Second, instead of introducing another set of factors, the research develops a framework to re-interpret the existing factor-based literature, considering the role of construction context and the socially constructed nature of technological innovations. The research uses the theoretical lens of the social construction of technology framework to analyze the adoption process. The existing literature suggests that such research is scarce and highly needed. Third, unlike the mainstream reductionist approaches, this research adopts an exploratory action research inquiry design that uses both inductive and deductive inquiry approaches to understand the socially constructed nature of innovation transfer in construction. The adopted research design offers a valuable methodological contribution to the existing body of knowledge.

In the rapidly changing business world, innovation plays a vital role for organizations to gain a competitive advantage. Various factors associated with technology management and innovations in organizations are diverse in the existing literature. Therefore, there is a need to bridge these gaps in the fitting proportions toward innovations within organizations. The primary objective of this study is to identify, explain and interpret the relationships between the identified technology-related factors that are important for innovations in organizations.

In this study, a modified total interpretive structural modeling (M-TISM) methodology was used to examine and analyze the various interactions between identified factors for innovations in organizations. However, the argumentation of the links is relatively weak in M-TISM. In order to compensate for this, M-TISM is additionally altered by an “Argumentation-based Modified TISM”. Hence, this research strengthens the modified TISM methodology by incorporating argumentation and total interpretation of the relationships between the identified factors.

A total of six major factors were identified using a literature review. Results suggest that workforce technical skills, technological infrastructure, technological alliances, technology transfer and top management support have an impact on innovation in organizations. Results also suggest that top management support and the technological infrastructure of an organization have a greater impact on innovation.

For policymakers and practitioners, this study provides a suggestive list of critical factors, which may help to develop policies or guidelines for improving innovation in organizations. Policymakers should focus on technological infrastructure and collaborations to enhance innovations and productions within the organizations. For academicians, this study provides a modified TISM model that shows the impact of technology-related factors on innovations. Future researchers could expand this study by adding a greater number of technological factors and validate this model in other industries.

This study fills a gap in the literature by interpreting the various relationships among the identified factors and innovations. The model has been validated through a panel of seven experts from the Indian automotive industry of multiple organizations. This study is useful in the automobile industry as it determines what and how technology-related factors affect innovations, process improvement and R&D production for organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the presumed role played by foreign direct investment (FDI) in transferring technology from home country into a host country. This paper uses data from Albanian manufacturing industry; first, to examine whether foreign presence results in technology transfer and, if yes, what type of technology is more prevalent and to what extent? Second, the paper attempts to investigate the purported determinants of technology transfer.

The paper uses two main methodological approaches; first, the technology transfer was determined using an arithmetic index developed using simple arithmetic average. This index is determined using all the industries and taking six key components of technology into consideration. They included: products; production processes; technology and innovation; supplier and customers system; human resource management, training and reporting system; financial management, marketing and organizational structure. Second, assuming a limited dependent relationship between the variables and the technology transfer, a Tobit technique was proposed to examine the significant determinants of technology transfer. Technology transfer was proxied by the technology transfer index developed.

The results clearly demonstrate that FDI plays an important role in technology transfer and that notwithstanding the industrialization of Albania. As per the technology transfer index developed, product-related technology transfer ranked highest followed by the process-related technology. The Tobit results generated indicated that firm age, performance, absorptive capacity, labor mobility, innovation, demonstration effect and systematic support were all key determinants of technology transfer. Surprisingly, size of the firm did not seem to matter.

The results have possible managerial and policy ramifications. First, the government should continue to provide basic infrastructure. Second, the government needs to formulate policies focused on human capital accumulation. Third, policies should be focused on firm learning and innovation in order to build technological and absorptive capabilities. Moreover, there should be increased effort to facilitate and encourage R&D. Fourth, the government should coordinate and support the institutions especially those that play a crucial role in industrial investment promotion. Fifth, the government should encourage systemic interactions among different entities. Sixth, since high competition from foreign firms can crowd out domestic investment, strategic measures to regulate such competition should be enacted.

The novelty in this paper is the broad conceptualization of technology transfer to include not only the direct but also the indirect mode of technology transfer, which often takes place in the form of spillovers. The physical technology transfer, as well as, its actual impact in the economy is examined to ascertain that technology transfer indeed takes place. The analytical framework adopted overlaps international business, technology transfer and technological innovation literature strands to examine the holistic process of technology transfer.

Because of importance of technological learning for less developed countries, the notion has received increasing attention of scholars. The purpose of this paper is to investigate technological learning systematically by assessing the effect of technology transfer actors on technological learning in less developed countries context.

The paper presents assessment model by adopting technological learning concept based on technology absorption and incremental innovation at firm level and identifying key roles of technology transfer actors (State – Scientific and technological infrastructure – Industry) that affect technological learning. The paper follows survey as research methodology. Thus, a questionnaire was addressed to 33 Syrian textile factories to examine the assessment model. Simple linear, multiple linear and ordinal regression analyses are preformed to examine relationships of model components.

The regression models show notable ability of technology transfer actors to explain technological behavior of firms to accumulate operative capability and consequently to generate passive incremental innovation. The findings indicate passive technical change system of Syrian textile industry. Therefore, goal-oriented evaluation of actual technology policy is preliminary step for achieving improvements, as well as activating scientific and technological infrastructure role by enabling strong relationships with industry and supporting interactions of domestic firms of textile industry and with foreign players.

The paper enriches technological learning literature by proposing systematic approach that sets the nature of technical change process of less developed countries in core of analysis. Moreover, it provides a guide for technological learning practices at firm level and for policymakers based on assessing actual status of Syrian textile industry.

A multinational company (MNC) looking to locate within a cluster is mainly interested in gaining access to scarce and highly valuable tacit knowledge. The transfer of such resources first requires sharing a certain degree of architectural and specific knowledge. This paper aims to examine the transfer of systemic technological expertise (specific tacit knowledge) that is incorporated into organisational practices (architectural knowledge). To quantify the level of knowledge transfer involved, the present study defines the architectural distance between the MNC and the cluster.

The mathematical expression of acquisition performance is inferred from a conceptual study that formulates hypotheses regarding the impact of these variables on knowledge transfer. The MNC chooses its location in such a way as to maximise this performance.

Applying a mathematical model to knowledge transfer between two of the MNC units helps to determine if the locally acquired knowledge could benefit other units of the MNC.

The present study defines the architectural distance between the MNC and the cluster. This architectural distance is defined by a vector composed of social, organisational, cultural, institutional, technological and geographic distances between the new acquisition and its network of local partners, on the one hand, and the MNC, on the other. Knowledge transfer also depends on the business players’ trust and motivation. Further research through a quantitative study would be useful to improve the links between the proposed mathematical model and the efficiency of an MNC’s location within a cluster.

The solution to the optimisation problem allows to put forward a simple decision criterion to assist a manager who has to face the problem of an optimal location choice.

First, this study contributes to a better understanding of how knowledge transfer effects may interact with cluster effects, while explaining a subsidiary’s performance with regard to location. Second, it provides an interpretation of the concept of knowledge embeddedness by showing that the effective transfer of architectural and specific knowledge involves the prior sharing of a certain amount of this knowledge.

One of the major challenges inside firms is how to effectively manage their knowledge assets in the context of managing the transfer of technological knowledge across the firm’s organizational boundaries. This paper explores technological knowledge flows and the coordination of knowledge activity through use of geographically dispersed cross‐functional teams, as a way of integrating diverse knowledge via technology transfer projects. As multinational companies (MNCs) have increased the volume of technological knowledge that flows between their corporate headquarters and subsidiary operations, with rapid speed in many cases, many large firms are having to face increasing challenges of now transferring more ‘softer’ forms of technological knowledge, since this is recognized as an enabler of competitive advantage for firms. Developing this theme, the paper provides a theoretical review of some helpful contributions in this area and provides some empirical research knowledge management insights, gained from conducting research interviews with different functional managers from four UK‐based multinational firms.

In today's competitive market, organizations are increasingly aware of the need to exchange the technologies, experience and knowledge they have developed in order to access new markets and revenue streams. They also recognize the need to acquire new technologies and knowledge from the external environment in order to exploit their ideas and create new products. Technology transfer (TT) is defined as the process for the passing and subsequent use of technology, expertise, know‐how or facilities for a purpose not originally intended by the developing organization. Above all, the transfer of space technology is recognized as complex, even though it is increasingly adopted: space technologies can, for example, be adopted for healthcare products, improved waste management and water recovery, as well as by manufacturers. Notwithstanding, few studies have focused on the TT process inside the space sector. The purpose of this paper is to verify which process and what determinants result in the transfer of space technologies to other industrial sectors.

This study has the final aim of developing the model of a transfer path suitable for the space industry. Specifically, the authors investigated two cases of TT, which have been promoted by an Italian systems integration company and supported by the National Research Council (CNR) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

From an organizational viewpoint, some main differences related to the TT path emerge. Regarding the determinants, the study confirms other studies, i.e. that the most important determinants are the integrability, flexibility and high reliability of the technology, the availability of financial resources, followed by the technological versatility, and the level of R&D competences and knowledge of the receiver organization.

The technological innovation literature has, as yet, paid little attention to the TT process into non‐space areas from the space sector. In order to fill this gap, the paper contributes to broadening the knowledge base on the determinants for TT success in the space sector.

This paper aims to explore the relationships between organizational unlearning and knowledge transfer in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) from a routine-based view. The study also stresses the mediating role that knowledge integration capability plays in this relationship.

In all, 178 samples were collected from Chinese multinational corporations that experienced cross-border M&As. In addition, the bootstrap method was used to test the mediating role of knowledge integration capability.

The empirical results indicate that knowledge integration capability is the crucial link between organizational unlearning and knowledge transfer. Specifically, this capability goes beyond the direct effect of organizational unlearning on knowledge transfer and points to the importance of enhancing knowledge integration capability. In turn, knowledge integration capability has a significant influence on knowledge transfer. The study finds that knowledge integration capability mediates the relationship between organizational unlearning and knowledge transfer.

This study adopts a routine-based view to develop a theoretical model for examining the relationship between organizational unlearning, knowledge integration capability and knowledge transfer in the context of cross-border M&As. This model provides new insights for a routine-based understanding of the important mediating role of knowledge integration capability for knowledge transfer and the effects of this role on the specific knowledge transfer, i.e. technological, marketing and managerial knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to open a new research frontier concerning industry factors influencing R&D transfer to emerging markets within Western multinational companies (MNCs).

The paper presents a framework based on knowledge transfer, knowledge creation, and innovation theory, which is illustrated in two cases from globally leading MNCs from different industries and technological fields which have established R&D units in China. It addresses the issue of industrial influences on R&D transfer to emerging markets, and the importance of complementary assets for innovation performance.

The framework and empirical research suggest that R&D transfer to new R&D units in emerging markets is less challenging for companies within industries characterized by slow technological development. This is due to dynamics, which result in codification and diffusion of technical knowledge, whereby it is easier to transfer and absorb. When the transformation from exploration to exploitation of knowledge is simple rather than complex within an industry, R&D transfer is less challenging. Leverage of local complementary assets nurtures reverse R&D knowledge transfer – positively impacting innovation performance.

The paper addresses the gap in knowledge transfer theory concerning industrial R&D transfer differences. The paper provides a framework for innovation related industrial contingencies on R&D transfer concerning emerging markets, and it advances the argument that complementary assets are important for R&D in emerging markets. Implications for management in China are outlined. The term captive knowledge transfer is coined.