Techonology transfer in Japanese electronics companies in Thailand

Abstract

The electronics industry in Thailand is the leading sector in the Thai economy where the Japanese investments are made significantly paralleling to the automobile industry. In order to achieve the sustainable development, the Thai government has introduced several policies to promote technology transfer. Despite such efforts, much of what they get relates to adaption and technical support rather than innovation. The study aims to improve understanding about the actual practice of technology transfer at intra-firm level in the Japanese electronics companies in Thailand and to provide some policy implications for the Thai agencies concerned for the better application of the technology transfer in the future. The study adopted the measurement of technological capability, which was used in the previous studies, and summarized the characteristics of the technology transfer in the Japanese electronics companies in Thailand by collecting primary data from eleven companies and by interviewing some parent companies to support the data obtained from questionnaires. The results showed that the level of technology transfer of the Japanese electronics companies in Thailand remains at the lower level because of the nature of the products and human resources. The policy implications arising from the study are to have more R&D activities by providing more incentives, and investment in human resource development in the middle and long term