Abu Bakar, A H B (2004) Factors affecting technology transfer to indigenous construction companies in developing countries: a Malaysian experience. PhD thesis, University College London, UK.
Abstract
Despite being acknowledged as one of the most important sectors in a developing economy, the role of the construction industry in developing countries is still being undermined by lack of appropriate attention to the development of the industry and its contractors. These issues having been highlighted during the past twenty years by various international organisations; governments of developing countries are beginning to take this matter seriously. One preferred response is to promote technology transfer. It is expected that a substantial degree of technology would be transferred by foreign international contractors to indigenous contractors by the end of a contract period. However, the extent and quality of transfer varies with the parties involved. The time and methods needed for a sufficient acquisition of technology varies with each construction company, as they possess different internal characteristics. The variability in achieving a desired transformation objective is a major obstacle to the production of capable indigenous contractors. It is important to identify the factors affecting transformation performance; which include in this research, the internal characteristics of the receiving firms, the technology transfer programme, and the type of technology. The Malaysian construction industry was chosen as a context for the study of the variability of transformation performance. Malaysia is one of the fastest growing developing nations in this decade in the world and the author is resident in and familiar with the environment. Its construction activities are very active, with many mega projects involving indigenous contractors and major international players in construction. The respondents for this research were indigenous contractors with some past experience in technology transfer programmes. The findings of the research confirmed that the internal characteristics of firms, technology transfer programme, type of technology and the transformation performance are significantly related.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | developing countries; government; Malaysia; technology transfer |
| Index terms: | technology transfer, programme, developing economy, developing nation, construction company, developing country, construction industry, variability, construction activity, transformation, acquisition, Malaysia, international organization |
| Subjects: | development economics, Geography, economic development, statistical analysis, industry analysis, project controls, business, organization, strategic management, knowledge management, construction operations |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, International Construction, Site Management, Time Control, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here