Stimulating competitiveness through technology transfer : a focus on micro-enterprise activity in construction

The role of globalisation and innovation in fostering continuous improvement for both the privateand public sector has received increased emphasis within the last decade. The activities of microenterprisesin stimulating and adoption of innovation, both as a practice and its nurturing within anyeconomy plays a key part in this respect. Innovation from any large organisation is often visible due toits scope and impact. Similar developments by their smaller and micro- counterparts, however, have toinvolve a critical mass of such organisations for its impact to be seen. This is particularly the case indeveloping economies where organisations classified under small and micro-size, normally form partof the informal sector or hidden economy. The mechanics by which innovation occurs within suchsmaller and micro organisations and how it translates to the national economy is in many casestherefore, not fully appreciated.This paper sheds some light on the mechanics of innovation at the micro level by presenting howtechnology transfer from a developed to a developing economy was employed to bring aboutinnovation among small and micro organisations that operate in construction and its related sectors. Itbriefly describes innovation and technology transfer as it relates to the context of this paper and howglobalisation contributes to both factors. It discusses the mechanisms for the transfer of thetechnology, and focuses on the aspects of innovation achieved through the impact of the technologytransfer. It also identifies some of the difficulties associated with stimulating innovation amo ng thesmall and micro organisation within the construction sector.