Technology transfer in multi-organizational environments: the case of R&D consortia

Research consortia represent a new organizational form which clarifies and highlights barriers and solutions to efficient and timely technology transfer. Using interview, archival, and survey data collected on MCC (the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation), it is suggested that four variables-communication, distance, equivocality, and motivation-are central to technology transfer processes within and between organizations. Managerial implications are presented in terms of a technology transfer grid which depicts different combinations of the variables