CATCHING UP OR FALLING BEHIND - PATTERNS IN INTERNATIONAL INTERFIRM TECHNOLOGY PARTNERING

The central issue in this paper is to what extent diverging international patterns in the distribution of technological capabilities are also found in interfirm technology cooperation. To answer this question attention will be paid to two, largely different forms of interfirm technology partnering. One is the phenomenon of strategic technology partnering, the other covers interfirm technology transfer agreements. Other mechanisms for international technology transfer that we discuss put the central subject of the present contribution in a wider context. The analysis enables us to address the possible limits of catching up through technology partnering and the major differences between the developed economies, newly industrialized countries (NICs) and less-developed countries (LDCs). A major conclusion is that interfirm partnering so far has not led to a catching up of LDCs and most of the NICs, as it is much more part of a process of concentration of technological competencies within the developed economies.