Practices of Intra- and Inter-Firm Technology Transfer in the Thai Automobile Industry 【Report】

The main objective of this paper is to investigate actual practices of technology transfer in a recent automobile assembly project in Thailand and investigations are done at both intra-firm level - from theJapanese automaker (J-firm) to its affiliate (T-firm) - and inter-firm level - from J-firm to T-firm's sup-pliers. Necessary information was collected through field surveys, including factory visits and inter-views with J-firm, T-firm and suppliers, and a questionnaire survey on suppliers. Major findings can besummarized as follows: 1) technology transfer was not limited only to intra-firm but also inter-firm lev-els, 2) at both levels, technology transfer process required substantial resource allocation, especiallyhuman resources exchanges and training, 3) formal training in Japan and on-the-job training (OJT) at T-firm were main strategies to develop local workers' skill at intra-firm level, 4) at inter-firm level, techni-cal assistance by J-firm normally took the form of advice rather than direct support, 5) direct supportwould be provided only to suppliers that revealed possibility of delay, aiming to establish systematicmanagement practicesand to instruct specific technical aspects necessary for successfully preparation.These findings suggest that foreign direct investment not only promotes technology transfer at intra-firmlevel but inter-firm level as well.