Collaboration in international technology transfer: the role of knowledge boundaries and boundary objects

Firms increasingly use choose collaborative arrangements to get access to the most recent and advanced technologies instead of trying to develop them in-home. Several emerging economies use such arrangements particularly in the defence industry as a vehicle for technology transfer to the local industry. The effectiveness of technology transfer, however, is affected by many factors. This paper analyzes international technology transfer as a challenge of inter-firm collaboration and a challenge of cross-boundary knowledge management, and highlights the role of boundary objects to mitigate problems of knowledge boundaries such transfers. Building on a comparative case study of two international technology transfer projects, the paper contributes to the understanding of how collaboration problems can affect the transfer of knowledge across knowledge boundaries and how the use of appropriate boundary objects may improve collaboration management and the knowledge transfer.