Transferring Japanese Technology Abroad:
Evolutionary & Embedded Layer Organization Models
Mark Fruin
Prof.
Department of Organization and Management
College of Business, San Jose State University
Abstract:
Technology transfer does not occur in a vacuum. Technology is transferred by human beings via organizations into social, economic, and political contexts. In such complex settings, the full consequences of actions to transfer technology may be hard -- even impossible -- to predict. This paper tries to reduce the complexity surrounding technology transfer by employing evolutionary organization models that look at the introductions of new agents in established environments and by modeling the multiple levels of interactions that occur when something like the Toyota Production System is transferred abroad. A case study of the transfer of photocopier technology from Japan to four overseas locations is described and analyzed in detail as a way to apply the evolutionary and embedded layer organization models.
Key Words:technology transfer, Japanese management systems, emergent processes, transplanting versus transformation
to be presente in Kyoto, Japan
October 19-21, 2002
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