Chapter Five

A BRIEF OBSERVATION FROM THE COMMERCIAL WORLD

These observations from a limited set of international comparisons parallel a

position also expressed in the United States. In the United States, private
industry has also evolved a different construction of the problem. Intellectual
property is now widely viewed as another strategic asset, to be managed by a
company just as it manages its financial assets or its physical or human capital
(Hamilton, 1997, pp. 163176). Each company understands that it rarely owns
all the technologies needed for a commercial success, just as it previously realized the need for partners in design, distribution, or sales. As such, technology
becomes an important asset available to be traded for the right priceperhaps access to other, complementary technology or access to a foreign market.
Just as in our foreign examples, the focus is on the advantage to the individual
firm, not on the technology per se.
This evolving commercial worldview has several observable consequences.
First, there is a growth in strategic alliances of various sorts, both within
national borders and across them. Whether a formal joint venture is formed or
a more limited interaction occurs, such as cross-licensing of patents, such relationships are formed daily. Often, this is described as being related to virtual
corporations, in which alliances shift with the needs of the moment. In another
view, these alliances are longer-term and reflect the increased complexity of
modern technology and the need for local marketing and distribution, if not
local content as well.
Second, the management of intellectual property, which is largely confined to
patents, is also much more visible today. Particularly in the various parts of the
information technology industry, there appear to be more, and more vigorous,
patent infringement suits in the United States. The recent, highly visible suit
and countersuit between Intel and DEC is just the most recent case in point.
The negotiated settlement of that case is also typical, as these suits, and the
management of the intellectual property, are now just another lever in commercial competition.

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Monitoring and Controlling the International Transfer of Technology

This emerging worldview, focusing on firms, not on technologies, is not

restricted to private firms. A recent report from the Kennedy School has a similar philosophy (Branscomb et al., 1997). In that report, the authors recognize
the key role of the private sector in investing in new technologies for economic
gains. Their view thus emphasizes the results for firms rather than the development or transfer of technologies. They also, much as our foreign comparisons do, emphasize the use of all policy tools, not just R&D support and note
the need for U.S. firms to get maximum benefit from world-wide sources of
innovation. (Branscomb et al., 1997.)
This emerging world view in the United States may shift the U.S. position away
from its historical one. As Olk and Xin (1997, p. 711) say, Traditionally, the USA
has been the generator of technology and concerned with limiting transfer.
That may well change as we enter the twenty-first century, with the United
States adopting a policy stance more similar to that of the other, smaller, but
technically advanced nations.