Technology Transfer to China The Issues of Knowledge and Learning

The aspect of effectiveness of technology transfer to developing countries still raises important questions from researchers and practitioners alike. Many of these questions pertain to the nature of knowledge and of the learning process. The first question for this paper is what forms of knowledge are transferred abroad by companies. The second question is what are the characteristics of the learning process in recipient firms during technology transfer. Twenty-eight Canadian manufacturing firms were interviewed. Seven case studies were also conducted in China.Our results demonstrate that tacit knowledge constitutes a substantial part of the total knowledge transferred by Canadian firms to China. The nonexplicit nature of knowledge leaves room for numerous problems of interpretation, not only at the technical and managerial level, but also at the more global level of national culture and institutions. Our findings tend to validate the evolutionary and cognitivistic positions on the nature of knowledge. The results also partly confirm our sequential model of learning.     

Risk Exposure,Humanitarianism and Willingness to Pay for Universal Healthcare: A Cross-National Analysis of 28 Countries

Social Justice Research - In this article, we explore the associations of people’s valuations of universal healthcare with risk exposure and humanitarianism across diverse institutional...     

Las funciones de los consejeros independientes de las sociedades en México: Recomendaciones para el cambio a partir de las asimetrías existentes entre la práctica y la ley

The legal notion of an independent board member was introduced to the Mexican legislation in 2005. The goal was to improve the corporate governance of the corporations listed on the stock exchange. It was thought that including the independent board members would help to better represent the interest of the minority holders, as well as to increase the level of accountability. This article challenges these ideas based on 10 interviews carried out with independent board members. It finds that what the law says is far from what actuatly occurs: they lack of an adequate level of knowledge to perform their tasks, their degree of independence is severely limited by the criteria used to appoint them and they usually ignore essential corporate information, which impede them from participating effectively in the board sessions. The article suggests the creation of an independent board member’s association, a mechanism that, along with a mandatory certification system, would improve the way in which they perform their duties.