Fostering Technology Absorption in Southern African Enterprises

World Bank

World Bank

关键词: ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY;    ACTION PLAN;    ACTION PLANS;    ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY;    ANTENNAS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-8818-1
RP-ID  :  64667

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This book seeks to understand how firmsin southern Africa absorb technology and how policy makerscan hurry the process along. It identifies channels oftechnology transfer and absorption through trade and foreigndirect investment (FDI) and constraints to greatertechnology absorption, and it discusses policy options opento the government and the private sector in light ofrelevant international experience. The book is based on casestudies of sectors and enterprises selected in fourcountries: Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, and South Africa.The relationship between technology absorption and catch-upgrowth is particularly relevant to southern Africa becausethose countries are facing tremendous competitivenesschallenges and must rely on greater technology absorption toraise productivity and strengthen competitiveness to gainground in the global market. An increased market share canthen generate faster growth and create more jobs. Therefore,catch-up growth sustained by technological progress andproductivity growth is the fundamental solution tounemployment and poverty alleviation. Southern African firmsuse multiple channels for technology absorption. Forexample, South African auto component firms enteredtechnology agreements with global players to meet thedemanding product standards required for export. Even afterthe global crisis in 2009, those who licensed technologiesstill spent 2.23 percent of their sales revenue onroyalties. In Namibia, the meat-processing industry has madecontinuous efforts to upgrade technology, including therecent investment in radio frequency identificationtechnology to trace cattle. In fish processing, companiesuse state-of-the-art production technologies, includingelectronic software to record and monitor productionprocesses, intelligent portioning equipment, andsophisticated freezer systems. In the breweries sector,state-of-the-art technology is used at every stage ofproduction and in the marketing and distribution processes.