Technological learning in large firms: mechanism and processes

ABSTRACT

The prerequisite of developing countries’ economic growth is to move along the technological development trajectory through technological learning, and large firms as hubs of technological knowledge, play an important role in this transition. In this paper, we tried to bridge two main taxonomies in the field of technological development, one of them referring to taxonomies of firms, and the other one referring to technological learning processes. We have identified technological learning processes in several post catch-up large firms through content analysis and then by employing a survey approach, we explore technological learning processes of Iranian large firms. The results indicate that as per scale-intensive firms in Iran, learning by doing, learning by using, learning by interacting and learning from spillovers are respectively the most important technological learning processes. Regarding large science-based firms, learning by searching, learning by interacting and learning from spillovers are the key learning processes. Finally, these results have been compared with those of post catch-up large firms.

KEYWORDS:

• Technological learning
• technology diffusion
• technological learning processes
• large firms
• learning environments

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sepehr Ghazinoory

Sepehr Ghazinoory is a Professor in the Department of Information Technology Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, having received his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). He has authored numerous books and articles in the field of science and technology policy in Persian and English. He was also the policy making deputy of Iran's vice-president for S&T and senior consultant in formulating the Iran Nanotechnology National Initiative. He is currently a Consultant to different ministries and Editor in Chief of journal of science and technology policy (JSTP) and an editorial board member of the International Journal of Technological Forecasting and Social Change (TFSC).

Aida Mohajeri

Aida Mohajeri has received her Ph.D. in science and technology policy from the Department of Information Technology Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. She has her M.Sc. in executive master of business administration (EMBA) and her B.Sc. in industrial management. Her researches are mainly focused on technological learning, and catch up and also other fields related to science and technology policy. She has several papers and books in this field.

Mehdi Kiamehr

Mehdi Kiamehr is an Assistant Professor in Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He has his Ph.D. in Innovation Management, Centre for Research in Innovation Management (CENTRIM), Brighton Business School, University of Brighton. He is interested in the field of innovation management and catch up and has several publications in this field.

Hasan Danaeefard

Hasan Danaeefard is a Professor in the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. He has received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in the field of Governmental management, and his B.Sc. in Business Management. He has numerous articles and books in the field of public policy.