Commercialization in Canada - Essay Example

 Commercialization in Canada Introduction Commercialization has opened the gates for international trades and has helped to convert the world into a global village. The last 100 years saw some of the most astonishing discoveries and innovations. The newly discovered products and methods have been trapped by the eager business mind and harnessed to produce revenue. Anything that comes out of an inventors mind has the potential to be harnessed as a revenue generator if the right conditions are met and right methods are applied to commercialize the products (Gorman, 2009). Thus, commercialization has everything to do with invention and discovery available to the masses and in the process to obtain charges for using the same. Commercialization has helped the countries to strengthen the country’s economy. The ability to harness the present resources of a country in order to trade for those resources which are not in abundance helps the countries meet the resource constraints. Some of the countries like USA, UK and Russia has benefitted immensely from commercialization of the resources of the country. Countries like Canada have failed to improve the commercialization due to various political and non political reasons (Hamao, 2012). The research report identified the reasons for the poor standing of Canada in commercialization on global level. Apart from that, it also discusses the reasons for poor commercialization and provides recommendations to improve the same. Identification of Canada’s poor standing globally in commercialization The diagram given below gives an indication of the contribution of commercialization towards the GDP of Canada. The diagram indicates that contribution of commercialization towards the GDP has been very low and more volatile in nature. The growth rate of commercialization has been volatile and erratic in nature. If the growth rate of commercialization is compared with other countries like USA and UK, then it becomes evident that Canada has to make a lot of improvements to match with the advanced countries (Hanks, 2005). Fig 1: Contribution of Commercialization to GDP Source: (Kenney, 2012) The diagram below gives an indication of the initiative taken by the University and colleges for spending in the research and development projects. The indication of the spending in research and development projects bears a special importance. This is because of the reason that technological innovation and development are one of the prime drivers of commercialization. Studies indicate that in comparison of other countries the fund allocated to the colleges and Universities for conducting research and development works is significantly less. Fig 2: Research and development fund allocated for GDP Source: (Kenney, 2013) The above diagram gives an indication of the spending by the various sectors like private non-profit, provincial governments, federal government, universities and industry in research and development activities. Fig 3: Commercialization development index Source: (Kutsuna, 2013) The analysis of the spending in research and development activities by various groups indicates that the spending by the provincial governments and federal governments are significantly low. Whereas the spending by the universities is significantly more, this is a cause of concern (Litan, 2012). This is because of the reason that studies indicate that those countries which are characterized by larger spending initiatives by governments and federal bodies have more chances of increasing the success rate of commercialization. Discussion of the reasons for poor commercialization Studies indicate that successful commercialization depends upon the management skills of the startups. The poor management skill of the people heading the startup projects in Canada is one of the reasons for poor development of commercialization. The infrastructures provided by the government to support the startup are proving to be insufficient. Canada also lacks the number of anchor companies. The anchor companies are those companies which help to advance the research and development initiatives. The general trend of the investor behavior indicate that for the last 20 years or so there have been general decrease in the investor confidence in startup projects. So lacks of funding are proving to be one of the hurdles of making commercialization a successful initiative for Canada (Stigler, 2009). Commercializations start with the confidence shown by the first customer to buy and use the product. As already discussed most of the investor is shying away from investing in startup projects, the Canadian government has not shown any different behavior. The private companies have requested the Canadian government to help increase the investor confidence by acting as the buyer or the user of the products. Although the indifferent attitude of the Canadian government has in fact backfired on its own country. This is evident from that fact that there are very few takers in the venture capitalists segment, ready to invest in risky and off beat projects. The wireless companies have advanced the network system inside Canada in a very efficient way. Most of the companies lack the initiates to take the business outside the borders of Canada. Thus there is no scope of import and export. Commercialization is a byproduct of necessity. Simple products and designs and concepts have been able to sell it when there have been no advanced and parallel concepts in the vicinity to challenge the same (Subramanyam, 2002). The industries of Canada have for long time lived in the shadows of USA. The Canadian industries forged ties with the powerful USA industrial giants and thus are supplied with technical knowhow and prowess. This extinguishes the need to push the boundaries of innovation and discovery. Thus lack of development leads to stagnation and this increases the dependency upon the old and used up ideas. Commercialization of old and used up ideas sometimes prove to be hard and this is exactly that has happened with Canada. Strategies to enhance success in commercialization The Canadian has to take the front seat in the matters of research and development initiatives. Then only it can help Canada march forward and level up with countries like USA and UK in terms of commercialization. Appropriate infrastructures and regulatory bodies need to be put in place by the Canadian government to provide the budding entrepreneurs with knowledge, capital and experience to help forward the new business initiatives (Subramanyam, 2006). This will help the products to gain a stable platform from where the process of commercialization can be furthered and converted into successful venture. The Industry Association of Canada has got close ties with the American counterparts. The Canadian Industrial Association needs to use the technical knowhow and knowledge gained from the American counterparts and push the boundaries of innovation. The industry has to change the outlook towards innovation and has to develop the habit of investing in risky and offbeat projects (Suzuki, 2002). This will help the startup projects with the required capital. Proper funding will enable the industry to carry on the process of commercialization effectively. As mentioned in the discussion the wireless industry and various other industries have gained strong foothold in Canada, although little effect is made to take the business outside the borders of Canada and make it available for use by the general masses. So the industries need to put in place the laws and regulations regarding export of the products and services to other international countries (Wernerfelt, 2005). Conclusion The discussion of reasons for poor development of commercialization in Canada indicates lack of efforts and initiatives by government, semi government, federal and private bodies. The past few decades the Canadian Industry have forged trade relationships with the American giants for gains which have not culminated into effective commercialization. There needs to be a paradigm shift in the outlook of the Canadian government and the industry and then only commercialization will be able to take off successfully. References Gorman, M. 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