Payments for imported technologies, market‐rivalry and adaptive activity in the newly industrialising countries

Abstract

Some enterprises in the newly industrialising countries have recently begun to develop their technological capabilities by first learning to adapt imported technologies. This article examines two questions raised by this import‐and‐adapt strategy. First, is the level of the adaptive activity of an individual enterprise influenced by its payments for the imported technologies? Second, in situations where the importer faces market‐rivals, does the answer to the first question also apply for the industry as a whole? The analyses of these questions point to some useful policy implications.

Notes

Department of Economics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, England. Helpful comments from an anonymous referee and from participants at a Development Economics Study Group seminar are gratefully acknowledged.