Monday 12 November 2012

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Objective of any production organization (or even any other organization), is known to be making profit, for which manufacture and marketing of variety of goods is carried out. The major trade, whether national or international, is in manufactured goods. Therefore, for sustaining success in this field, a steady stream of new products should be generated with continuous innovation, which points towards the need for creativity in product design. An analysis of the profit of the companies would indicate that 50 to 60 % of the profits came from products which were less than 5 years old. The needs of the customers go on changing, shifting and evolving with changing life styles. Flow of information is fast, due to the latest means of communication. Therefore product life span is small and hence the necessity for development of new products. Once the product is made to enter the market, making it sustain in the market is very difficult and ultimately, the quality and reputation of the product and the company in the global market may help in the long run.
Many of our new products are those which have been developed as a result of R and D done outside India. When these are to be produced in the country, the technology is transferred to this country. Although this appears to be a case of simple transfer of know-how, but the matter is far from simple. Whenever such transfer of technology takes place, there are problems in the path of progress. In some cases, the whole thing becomes a non-starter. With the product developed with indigenous R and D, not only there are problems in transferring technology from R and D  to the production shop floor, but also in marketing the product in Indian market, besides those in marketing them in foreign markets owing to different parameters prevailing there. Hence it is necessary to examine the international linkages from the point of view of anticipated problems, by looking at this subject closely and deeply, by organizing an industry-wide set-up to guide the industry in totality, prior to the actual agreement for transfer of technology. A proper action plan should be made for acquiring any technology by transfer and selection and suitability of the technology should be examined completely, by the experts of the organization and also by outside consultants, who should be made to play a sizeable role. Also an action plan is required to be made to cover the period “after acquisition of the technology”, so that the acquired technology is fully absorbed in the organization and the expected results envisaged in the action plan are achieved. Above all, the mode and quantum of payments for the technology transfer vis-à-vis expected results and gains from the technology transfer, need to be critically analyzed, before entering into the agreement for the technology transfer. Anticipated problems in the reverse technology transfer from India to overseas also need to be attended to adequately, wherein international image of the country is an important factor.
                                                                                                              vijaiksharma

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