The Globalisation of Technology - Literature review Example

Globalisation Student’s name Grade course Tutor’s name Date Globalisation It has been argued that “the lowering of trade barriers made globalisation of markets and production a theoretical possibility”, but “technological change has made it a tangible reality” (Hill, Cronk & Wickramasekera 2011, p. 14). In other words, technology has been given credence for its role in the globalisation process. Notably however, and considering that technology use and penetration is not common (or uniform) in all parts of the world, is it possible that technology has in itself been globalised; and if so, who does is it, how and for what reasons? In consideration of the aforementioned questions, I have identified the research topic as “The globalisation of Technology”. The research topic is informed by my conviction that without technology, globalisation would not have occurred (or at least not at the fast rate being witnessed now). Notably however, all countries would need to access, accept and have the capacity to use specific technologies equally for them (technologies) to play a part in globalisation. Still I recognise that technologies are products of innovations, most of which are patented in their countries of origin. The use of such technologies elsewhere other than the country of origin would thus need such technologies to be deliberately transferred there. In recognition of the aforementioned, I intend to find out the channels through which technology is globalised, the reasons behind such globalisation and the benefits that the technology owners get from globalising specific technologies. Insights from Literature: Books 1. Cantwell (1997) found out that the globalisation of technology was increasingly happening because Multi National Corporations (MNCs) had highly internationalised their technology innovations. Although speaking from a developed nation’s perspective, Cantwell (1997) observes that globalisation of technology enables multinationals to be more competitive across geographical borders. However, by so doing, they also enable other people from different geographical regions too understand, adopt and use technologies that were initially developed in the MNCs home countries hence helping to bridge any technological divide that may exist between employees working for the same company in different countries. 2. Goldberg, Branstetter, Goddard and Kuriakose (2008) investigate the absorption of technology in Europe and observe that foreign direct investments, trade, patents, and research and development are the major channels through which technological absorption occurs. In the book, the authors use case studies, surveys, and patent databases to investigate how technology-related decision-making is affected by the channels of absorption used in a specific country. In the end, the authors indicate that FDI flows, and trade show considerable capacity to act as future catalysts for upgrading and spreading technology to different countries in the global environment. 3. In a 1988 submission, Ramo (1988, p. 13) predicted that “what happens technologically on the outside will become too important for any country to ignore, and a failure on its part to acquire and use external advances will be too penalizing to be tolerated”. In the writing however, it is clear that Ramo did not fully understand how national governments would use technologies in a globalised world especially considering that technology-rich countries were already demanding (and receiving) Quid pro quos from other nations in exchange for accessing their technologies. Ramo (1988) further predicted that a hybrid of nationalism and protectionism would continue being witnessed in the dissemination and use of technology, and that only the economically able would be able to obtain and use such technologies from the innovators. 4. Writing about the cultural perspectives prevalent in Ireland regarding globalisation, Maher (2009) observes that it is feared that the advent of global technology would enhance the risk of global accidents occurring everywhere the affected technologies are in use. Moreover, people are aware that technology shapes them and the collective culture and space. However, even where issues of technology usage have been resolved to allow free usage, it appears that most people do not understand how to use safeguards to prevent being exposed to negative effective factors. Insights from Literature: Peer Reviewed Journals 1. In their article titled ‘Technological globalisation or national systems of innovation’, Archibugi and Michie (1997) discuss whether technological innovations should be used within their countries of origin for purposes of enhancing the competitiveness of national states, or should be globalised for purposes of ensuring that people in different national states can use them to enhance their capacities to conduct business on a global market. The writers specifically use the terms techno-nationalism and techno-globalism to refer to the concepts of technological innovations and development within a national state and within the global environment respectively. Archibugi and Michie (1999) further observe that in some cases, national institutions may find it essential to develop science and technology for national competitive reasons. However, governments and organisations may also at times find it more beneficial to adopt cooperative strategies in the development of science and technology. Overall, Archibu and Michie (1999) observe that technological globalisation occurs in three main ways, which include: international exploitation, collaboration, and generation of similar innovations by one organisation across different countries. 2. With an aim of establishing the impact of technological globalisation on developing countries, Archibugi and Pietrobelli (2003) have indicated that the transfer of technology from innovators is increasing as the world becomes more interlinked. For developing countries which have in the past have had almost insignificant technology developments -often because organisations and developments do not invest much in research and development-, the authors indicate that there would have to be “deliberate effort to absorb innovation through endogenous learning” (Archibugi & Pietrobelli 2003, p. 864). Like Archibugi and Michie (1997) above, Archibugi and Pietrobelli (2003) identify international exploitation, global generation, and collaborations as the three main categories through which technological globalisation occurs. By analysing the three categories against developing countries, the authors indicate that in addition to such countries failing to generate or collaborate with others in the generation of technologies, they also rate poorly in how they exploit existing technology. In other words, most developed countries (with the exception of Asian tigers) are not seizing by technological developments. In conclusion, Archibugi and Pietrobelli (2003) observe that not all countries benefit equally from the globalisation of technology. 3. Addressing the difficulties of transferring high technology from developed to developing countries Drummond and Stefanovic (1986) identify seven reasons why such transfers are slow or in some cases, non-existent. Financial, manpower, environmental, geographical locations, motivational and political constraints all contribute to the slow transfer of high-technology to developing countries. Much as it is important that such technology transfer is used equally by all countries in order for them to compete on an equal platform in a globalised world, Drummond and Stefanovic (1986) acknowledge the sad reality that developing countries will in the foreseeable future remain less technologically capable than the counterparts in the developed world. 4. Even where foreign direct investments are made in developing countries, Dumont, Stojanovska and Vuyvers (2011, p. 260) argues that the “introduction and diffusion of information and communication technology” in developed countries leads to a biased job creation in favour of “highly skilled workers” from developed countries. In their conclusion, Dumont et al. (2011) notes that in a world where globalisation of technology cannot happen freely and equally among countries of the world, market and institutional inequalities would be inevitable. Insights from Literature: Internet Sources 1. In a working paper series, Guellec and de la Potterie (2013) have discussed how patent data can be used to measure the extent of technology globalisation. The authors start by observing that “an increasing share of technology is owned by firms from a different country than the one of the inventors...” (Guellec & de la Potterie 2013, p. 2). In their findings however, the two writers found out that smaller countries are more likely to internationalise their technologies, something that they argue is related to the relative small knowledge-base compared to larger countries. Additionally, language barrier was found to be a hindrance to globalising technology since technology developed in a hard to fathom language becomes harder to be understood by other people outside that dialect. According to Guellec and de la Potterie (2013), technological cooperation is largely affected by both shared interests in a specific innovation and the geographical proximity between countries. The credibility of this article is evident in the authors’ reference to literature sources, and the academic type of writing used. Although not a peer-reviewed article, Guellec and de la Potterie’s (2013) work is published as part of a working paper series, and this proves its credibility further. 2. With specific focus on the internet, Sardowsky (1996) acknowledges that many developing countries benefit from technological assistance offered indirectly by the developed countries. Such help happens in the form of direct investments, or through working relationships between firms in developed and developed countries. In other forms of technology however, Sardowsky (1996) observes that developed countries may lack the knowledge and /or exploitation capacity needed to make full use of emergent technologies. Although the writer does not specifically address the issue of globalisation of technology, he concludes by observing that the internet society has a mandate to ensure there is cooperation and coordination in the use of technology in resolving society issues in developing countries, just like is the case in developed countries. The credibility of the Sardowky (1996) is evident from the provision of author information, and the arguments made in the article. The fact that the article is published on an international electronic publication owned by the Internet Society is indicative of the possibility that the content therein is substantive. 3. Writing about the role of technology, Egbonah (2011) uses the example of Malaysia- a country that has easily adopted technology- and Nigeria- a country which lacks a sustained focus of technology development or use in specific sectors. Through comparing the two countries, Egbonah (2011) observes how developing countries can develop their own technologies to enhance their competitiveness based on locally available resources as was the case of Malaysia, and how other developing countries- such as Nigeria- can borrow valuable lessons regarding the importance of technology use. Though Egbogah (2011) does not discuss the globalisation of technology, it is evident that the use of countries that are geographically apart indirectly makes reference to the dynamics of globalisation. Although this author does not cite other writers, the credibility of this article is perhaps based gauged on and the concrete arguments made in the article. Progress so far At this point, it is pretty clear that I will evaluate the relevance of technology to globalisation. More specifically, I will investigate how technology is globalised and the main challenges facing the move to globalise technology. Specifically, I will research the question as Follows: How, why and for what is technology globalised? What are the main challenges facing the globalisation of technology? Essay Plan Introduction: Introduce the globalisation concept and relate it to technology. Define technology globalisation Literature review: To answer the questions identified in the progress section above (i.e. How, why and for what is technology globalised? What are the main challenges facing globalisation of technology?) This writer will engage in an extensive literature review. From the literature review, the writer will identify a gap in knowledge that needs to be filled through research. Discussion: In this section, the findings from the literature review section will be analysed and a conclusion formulated. At this point, the writer will ideally have answers explaining how, why and for what technology is globalised. Additionally, the writer will ideally be able to identify the challenges facing the globalisation of technology, and may even suggest what can be done to overcome such challenges. Conclusion: This section will summarise the contents contained in the essay. The writer will reiterate the findings of the essay, and if necessary make suggestions on how knowledge on the topic can be created. Specifically, the writer can comment about the need for future research on the identified topic (i.e. the globalisation of technology). References Archibugi, D & Michie, J 1997, ‘Technological globalisation or national systems of innovation?’ Features, vol. 29. No. 2, pp. 121-137. Archibugi, D & Pietrobelli, C 2003, ‘The globalisation of technology and its implications for developing countries- windows of opportunity or further burden?’ Technological Forecasting & Social Change, vol. 70, pp. 861-883. Cantwell, J 1997, ‘The globalisation of technology: what remains of the product cycle model?’, In Archibugi, D and Michie, J (Eds.), Technology, globalisation and economic performance, Cambridge University Press, Boston, MA , pp. 215-235 Drummond, J & Stefanovic, P 1986, ‘Transfer of high technology to developing countries’, In M Blakemore (Ed.), Proceedings, Auto Carto London, vol. 2, pp. 441-451. Dumont,M., Stojanovska, N.,& Vuyvers, L 2011, ‘World inequality, globalisation, technology and labour market institutions’, International Journal of Manpower, vol.32, no.3, pp. 257-272. Egbogah, E. O 2011, ‘The role of technology in national development’, Emerald Energy Resources, viewed 8 March 2013, < http://www.spe.org/publications/tt/documents/v1n2_role_technology.pdf>. Goldberg, I., Branstetter, L., Goddarrd, J. G., Kuriakose, S 2008, Globalization and technology absorption in Europe and Central Asia, World Bank, Danvers, MA. Guellec, D & de la Potterie, B. P 2013, ‘Measuring the globalization of technology- An approach based on patent data’, Working Paper: WP-CEB 04/013, pp. 1-18. Maher, E 2009, Cultural perspectives on globalisation and Ireland, Peter Lang Publishing, Bern, Switzerland. Ramo, S 1988, Globalisation of industry and implications for the future’, In Muroyama, J. H & Stever, H. G 1988, Globalization of technology: International perspectives, National Academy Press, Washington D.C., pp. 12-22, viewed 06 March 2013, < http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1101&page=R1>. Sardowsky, G 1996, ‘The internet society and developing countries’, On the Internet, viewed 8 March 2013, < http://www.isoc.org/oti/printversions/1196prsadowsky.html>. Read More